Language change and varieties of English - MA Seminar 1 3301-JFS1WOJ02
The seminar will focus on language change, with the focus on English, and its modern dialects. The topics discussed will include morphological, phonological, lexical and semantic changes in the English language which led to the development of standard and non-standard varieties. The actual topics of the thesis may vary, from projects studying the changes which took place in the language in the past to those examining various aspects of Present-Day English.
Topics discussed:
- language contact and its results;
- English lexicon: history, changes and present-day situation;
- borrowings;
- morphological changes and their results;
- phonological changes and their results;
- standard dialects (AmE, ScotEng, IrEng, etc.);
- non-standard varieties of English;
- linguistic theories;
- orthographic changes in English
- jargons of present-day English.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Bibliography
Durkin, P. 2009. The Oxford Guide to Etymology. Oxford: OUP.
Freeborn, D. 2006. From Old English to Standard English. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hock, H.H. – B.D Joseph. 1996. Language History, Language Change and Language Relationsip. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hughes, G. 2000. History of English Words. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Kortmann, B.– C. Upton (eds.). 2008. Varieties of English (Vol. 1-4). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Machan, T.W.–Ch. Scott. 1992. English in Its Social Contexts. New York: Oxford University Press.
McMahon, A. 1994. Understanding Language Change. Cambridge: CUP.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: