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This introductory seminar gives a survey of historical change in phonology, morphology/syntax and the lexicon across the Old, Middle and (Early/Late) Modern English periods to the present day as well as of current geographical and socio-functional variation in the English language. It thus emphasizes the close relationship between language change and variation. It introduces the concept of the sociolinguistic situation with its various parameters and presents language change and variation as complex processes determined by the interaction of language-internal forces and extralinguistic factors. It sets the framework for a more detailed treatment of historical language change or, alternatively, of contemporary variation of the English language in the UEs offered in this module.
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