- Department: Language and Linguistic Science
- Module co-ordinator: Dr. Claire Childs
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: C
- Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
How does language change happen? How would you know if your language was changing right now? Parallels between language variation and change in English in its past and in its present are at the heart of this module. Students will discover how, to a large degree, the processes at play in current changes are the same as those driving past changes. Students will also explore how historical changes can be viewed through the lens of modern sociolinguistic research, and learn about the historical roots of differences between modern varieties of English.
Occurrence | Teaching cycle |
---|---|
A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
The module will cover topics including language change, language contact, regional variation, stylistic variation, social factors, language attitudes and standardisation, and dealing with data.
Each week of the module will address a different topic. There are 2 lectures per week: 1 lecture will focus on the topic from a historical perspective, and 1 lecture will focus on the same topic from a sociolinguistic perspective. There will be some exceptions to this, called ‘Dialogue’ lectures, which will synthesize both viewpoints. There will be 1 seminar per week which will address that week’s topic as a whole.
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Summative essay |
N/A | 40 |
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) English Past & Present |
N/A | 60 |
None
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) English Past & Present |
N/A | 100 |
Students will receive written feedback on their assessments within the university mandated time limit.
Meyerhoff, M. (2019). Introducing Sociolinguistics (3rd edition). London: Routledge.
Culpeper, J. (2015). History of English (3rd edition). Routledge.
Barber, C. L., Beal, J. C., & Shaw, P. A. (2009). The English language: a historical introduction (2nd editon). Cambridge University Press.
Hejná, M., & Walkden, G. (2022). A history of English. Language Science Press. https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/346