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This course offers an introduction into Middle English (ME), which is an umbrella term for the versions of English spoken between the Norman Conquest and 1500. After a brief recapitulation of the historical backdrop of the period (which is closely linked to some of the linguistic developments of ME) and of the state of the English language at the end of the Old English period, the linguistic developments during the ME period at different linguistic levels (in particular, phonetics/phonology incl. spelling, morphology, syntax, semantics, lexicon) will be investigated.
In a number of case studies we will review prominent changes within ME, in particular, the emergence of the Modern English word order, and the origins of the do-support.
Time permitting, we will also read short sections from original texts from different periods of ME, among them the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (but with a focus on the linguistic aspects of the texts). |
