This course traces the English language from its Indo-European and Germanic origins to its current world language status. Students will explore contacts with other languages, and the social forces behind those contacts. We will also address the question of whether English constitutes one language or many. Other areas of interest will be the role of language in culture and identity, the function of language as a cognitive technology, and the role of colonialism and neo-colonialism in the history and possible future of English.
As for formal course requirements, my policies are usually simple, but this is not a simple year. My intention is to post lectures to our Moodle page biweekly and to run a group chat on Teams every Friday at 12:30. The Teams chats are intended to be conversational rather than lecture-based, and they will be recorded for the benefit of those in distant time zones. I will also post links and files to Moodle containing audio language samples to help with your appreciation of the many changes that English has undergone over the last millennium and a half. Regarding deadlines, only papers handed in on time will receive commentary. Essays handed in within two weeks of the deadline will receive no penalty but also no commentary. Reflections, on the other hand, must be posted by midnight of the due date so that other students can respond to them (more information on reflections will follow). All student work must be original as specified in the STU Course Calendar entry on plagiarism. Any student found guilty of plagiarism will be lowered slowly into a cage full of hungry badgers.- Teacher: Rodger Wilkie