"Course No. 2250." Lectures 1-36 of 36 30-minute lectures on 6 discs in 3 containers. Taught by: Professor Seth Lerer, Stanford University. Course guidebook includes lecture outlines and notes, a time line, glossary, biographical notes, and bibliography.
Contents:
Pt. 1. Lecture 1. Introduction to the study of language -- Lecture 2. The historical study of language -- Lecture 3. Indo-European and the prehistory of English -- Lecture 4. Reconstructing meaning and sound -- Lecture 5. Historical linguistics and studying culture -- Lecture 6. The beginnings of English -- Lecture 7. The Old English worldview -- Lecture 8. Did the Normans really conquer English? -- Lecture 9. What did the Normans do to English? -- Lecture 10. Chaucer's English -- Lecture 11. Dialect representations in Middle English -- Lecture12. Medieval attitudes toward language. Pt. 2. Lecture 13. The Return of English as a standard -- Lecture 14. The great vowel shift and modern English -- Lecture 15. The expanding English vocabulary -- Lecture 16. Early modern English syntax and grammar -- Lecture 17. Renaissance attitudes toward teaching English -- Lecture 18. Shakespeare : drama, grammar, pronunciation -- Lecture 19. Shakespeare : poetry, sound, sense -- Lecture 20. The Bible in English -- Lecture 21. Samuel Johnson and his Dictionary -- Lecture 22. New Standards in English -- Lecture 23. Dictionaries and the word histories -- Lecture 24. Values, words, and modernity. Pt. 3. Lecture 25. The beginnings of American English -- Lecture 26. American language from Webster to Mencken -- Lecture 27. American rhetoric from Jefferson to Lincoln -- Lecture 28. The language of the American Self -- Lecture 29. American regionalism -- Lecture 30. American dialects in literature -- Lecture 31. The impact of African-American English -- Lecture 32. An Anglophone world -- Lecture 33. The language of science -- Lecture 34. The science of language -- Lecture 35. Linguistics and politics in language study -- Lecture 36. Conclusions and provocations.
Summary:
This course introduces the student to the history of the English language, from its origins as a dialect of the Germanic-speaking peoples, through the literary and cultural documents of its 1500 year span, to the state of American speech of the present day.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.