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This introductory lecture gives a survey of historical change in phonology, morpho-syntax and the lexicon across the Old, Middle and Modern English periods to the present day as well as of contemporary regional/national, social and functional variation in the English language. It thus emphasises the close relationship between language change and variation. It introduces the concept of the (socio-)linguistic situation with its various parameters and presents language change and variation as complex processes determined by the interaction of intralinguistic forces and extralinguistic factors. In this respect, the lecture discusses certain historical processes like the restructuring of morphological/functional paradigms and grammaticalisation, e.g. pertaining to the English system of verb forms. The lecture sets the framework for a more detailed treatment of historical language change or, alternatively, of contemporary variation of the English language in the seminars offered in this module. |
