ATS3673 English across time

English has been described as one of the most changing and hybrid languages of all times, and in this unit we survey the history of the language from the earliest written records to the present day. We begin by looking at the attitudes towards language change, as well as the motivations and mechanisms that drive the changes, including social, cultural and political factors. All aspects of the linguistic system evolve, and this unit considers changes to English sounds (phonology), vocabulary (lexicon), meanings of words (semantics), structure of words (morphology), sentence structure (syntax) and spelling (orthography). We will be using texts (literary and non-literary) to illustrate the established divisions of the language into the Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English and Modern English periods. We will also be looking at the history and development of Standard English and the controversies surrounding its creation and its current status.