Teaching the History of English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajend Mesthrie
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Middle English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
Student Preparation ◽  
English Departments ◽  
History Of

This chapter addresses how the history of English as a linguistic topic has been taught in one South African university. The author focuses on the traditional Old–Middle–Modern English trichotomy as well as colonial and postcolonial synchronic varieties. Subsequent to a curricular shift from historical to applied linguistics in English departments, students taking History of the English Language (HEL) come to the course with little or no background in Old and Middle English. The author offers practical examples of how he accommodated this change in student preparation. Additionally, he addresses how the postcolonial era and globalisation have “revitalised the story of English.” Pidgins, Creoles, and World Englishes problematise the earlier genealogy of the Standard Language, making a linear history less easy to uphold. The author’s discussion of his complementary “Pidgins, Creoles, and New Englishes” course includes helpful pointers to instructors teaching these varieties within a HEL course.

An Ecological Account of the Emergence and Evolution of English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salikoko S. Mufwene
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
English Language ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
The World ◽  
Population Structures ◽  
History Of

What follows is a contact-based account of the emergence of English. Though the role of language contact in the development of World Englishes is often addressed as a coda within History of the English Language (HEL) courses, this chapter presents an alternative story, highlighting contact situations in Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English. The creolist perspective offered here suggests that History of English instructors should look closer at the received doctrine of HEL and consider whether an ecological model should not be used to make sense of the story of Englishes. A periodized history of colonization and of the ensuing population structures that influence language contact appears to explain a great deal about the differential evolution of English in various parts of the world, including what distinguishes colonial English dialects from their creole counterparts.

scholarly journals John Lydgate’s Use of Prepositions and Adverbs Meaning ‘Between’

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-61
Author(s):  
Ewa Ciszek-Kiliszewska
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
English Language ◽  
John Lydgate ◽  
Actual Number ◽  
English Poet ◽  
English Prose ◽  
Quality Aspects ◽  
History Of

Abstract The aim of the present study is to thoroughly analyse the prepositions and adverbs meaning ‘between’ in the works of a Late Middle English poet John Lydgate. As regards their quality, aspects such as the etymology, syntax, dialect, temporal and textual distribution of the analysed lexemes will be presented. In terms of the quantity, the actual number of tokens of the prepositions and adverbs meaning ‘between’ employed in John Lydgate’s works will be provided and compared to the parallel statistics concerning Middle English texts collected by the Middle English Dictionary online and the Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. The most spectacular finding is that John Lydgate regularly uses atwēn, twēn(e) and atwix(t)(en), which are recorded in hardly any other Middle English texts. Moreover, the former two lexemes, and sporadically also atwix(t)(en), produce the highest number of tokens of all lexemes meaning ‘between’ in each analysed Lydgate’s text, which is unique in the whole history of the English language.

scholarly journals The Affix Changes from Middle English to Modern English Found In The Miller's Tale Written by Geoffrey Chaucer and Its Modern English Version

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Egi Putriana ◽  
Jufrizal Jufrizal ◽  
Fitrawati Fitrawati
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Geoffrey Chaucer ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Version ◽  
New Words ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vowel Change

The history of English language has three periods of time; Old English, Middle English, and Modern English. The linguistic forms in English development are different each period. This research aims to find out one of the changes, that is, the affix changes from Middle English to Modern English form that found in both of The Miller’s Tale Story Middle English and Modern English versions. This research also aims to find out the spelling changes in affixes. This research used descriptive qualitative method. The data, which are the collection of words that have affixes found in The Miller’s Tale, were identified based on the base of the words and its affixes and its were classified based on the type of its functions. Based on data analysis, there are seven affixes in Middle English which have been changed in Modern English form. These changes occur in the deletion of vowel, change of vowel, substitution of the affix, and elimination of the affix. The spelling change also influenced the change in suffixes. Some of the vocabularies change into the new words and some of the words change only in its vowel.

Researching World Englishes in HEL Courses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Percy
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
American English ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Online Newspapers ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Final Essay

This chapter describes assignments used to teach the History of the English Language (HEL) and its contemporary counterpart the English Language in the World. In both of these courses, linguistic concepts can be linked to literary analysis, which helps students learn how to analyze code-switching and/or style-shifting in the context of a literary argument. For discovering and interpreting issues about the status and use of English around the world, students have a number of options. For example, after reading specific articles about slang generally and analyzing examples chosen in class, some students choose to write a final essay on slang or jargon used within online newspapers or films that represent different World Englishes (e.g., in Nigerian “Nollywood” films). Thus, World Englishes become realer for students rather than exotic abstractions or curious variants of English or American English.

John Algeo (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language, vol. 6: English in North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. xxxii, 625. Hb. $120.00.

2003 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 741-744
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
General Editor ◽  
Final Volume ◽  
History Of ◽  
Traditional Paradigm

This is the sixth and presumably final volume in an ambitious series. The first four volumes were distinguished chronologically according to the traditional paradigm for the history of English: Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Present Day English. The other two volumes are organized geographically. Volume 5 examined English outside England in most of the expected places (e.g., Scotland, Ireland, Australia), with the exception of North America, to which the present volume is devoted. As the general editor, Richard Hogg, writes (p. xi), the series is designed to offer “a solid discussion of the full range of the history of English” to anglicists and general linguists alike. Readers of the latter category will certainly find this volume accessible. In fact, the inclusion of a glossary of terms extends that accessibility to readers outside linguistics as well. Specialists, however, are likely to be disappointed by the unevenness of the collection.

scholarly journals Language teaching

2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-19
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Language Testing ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Language Teacher ◽  
Brunei Darussalam

06–01Akira, Mochida & Harrington, Michael (U Queensland, Australia), The Yes/No test as a measure of receptive vocabulary knowledge. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.1 (2006), 73–98.06–02Biddle, Rodney (Gunma Prefectural Women's U, Japan), What makes a good English class? Perceptions of individuality and the group among Japanese EFL students. The Language Teacher (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 29.8 (2005), 3–8.06–03Burden, Peter (Okayama Shoka U, Japan), The castor oil effect: Learner beliefs about the enjoyment and usefulness of classroom activities and the effects on student motivation. The Language Teacher (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 29.10 (2005), 3–9.06–04Corbeil, Giselle (Acadia U, Canada), Effectiveness of focus on forms instruction: Different outcomes on constrained and free production tasks?Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics (Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics) 8.1 (2005), 27–46.06–05Dastjerdi, Hossein Vahid, Talebinezhad & Mohammad Reza (U Isfahan, Iran), Chain-preserving deletion procedure in cloze: A discoursal perspective. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.1 (2006), 58–72.06–06Guan Eng Ho, Debbie (U Brunei Darussalam, Brunei; [email protected]), Why do teachers ask the questions they ask?RELC Journal (Sage) 36.3 (2005), 297–310.06–07Honna, Nobuyuki (Aoyama Gakuin U, Japan; [email protected]) & Yuko Takeshita, English language teaching in Japan: Policy plans and their implementations. RELC Journal (Sage) 36.3 (2005), 363–383.06–08Jenkins, Jennifer (King's College, U London, UK), Implementing an international approach to English pronunciation: The role of teacher attitudes and identity. TESOL Quarterly (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) 39.3 (2005), 535–543.06–09Kato, Asako (Fudoka Seiwa High School, Japan), The visual text speaks louder than the written text: An examination of the revised Monkasho English I textbooks. The Language Teacher (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 29.5 (2005), 3–13.06–10Lazaraton, Anne (U Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA; [email protected]) & Noriko Ishihara, Understanding second language teacher practice using microanalysis and self-reflection: A collaborative case study. The Modern Language Journal (Blackwell) 89.4 (2005), 529–542.06–11Li, Defeng (Chinese U Hong Kong, China; [email protected]), Teaching of specialized translation courses in Hong Kong: A curricular analysis. Babel (John Benjamins) 51.1 (2005), 62–77.06–12McCaughey, Kevin (California, USA; [email protected]), Thekashasyndrome: English language teaching in Russia. World Englishes (Blackwell) 24.4 (2005), 455–459.06–13McEachron, Gail (College of William and Mary, VA, USA) & Ghazala Bhatti, Language support for immigrant children: A study of state schools in the UK and US. Language, Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 18.2 (2005), 164–180.06–14Reza Hashemi, Mohammad & Farah Gowdasiaei (Ferdowsi U Mashhad, Iran; [email protected]), An attribute-treatment interaction study: Lexical-set versus semantically unrelated vocabulary instruction. RELC Journal (Sage) 36.3 (2005), 341–361.06–15Savickienė, Ineta & Violeta Kalėdaitė (Vytautas Magnus U, Kaunas, Lithuania), Cultural and linguistic diversity of the Baltic states in a new Europe. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Multilingual Matters) 26.5 (2005), 442–452.06–16Sercu, Lies (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium), María del Carmen Méndez García & Paloma Castro Prieto, Culture learning from a constructivist perspective: An investigation of Spanish foreign language teachers' views. Language and Education (Multilingual Matters) 19.6 (2005), 483–495.06–17Stempleski, Susan (City U New York, USA), Developing fluency: Some suggestions for the classroom. The Language Teacher (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 29.6 (2005), 31–33.06–18Swan, Michael (Freelance), Legislation by hypothesis: The case of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics (Oxford University Press) 26.3 (2005), 376–401.06–19Ter-Minasova, Svetlana G. (Moscow State U, Russia; [email protected]), Traditions and innovations: English language teaching in Russia. World Englishes (Blackwell) 24.4 (2005), 445–454.

scholarly journals The Derivative Aspect of the Formation of the Prefixal and Onomasiological Category of Negation

Linguaculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Olga Migorian
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Formation Potential ◽  
History Of

The article addresses the formation of the prefixal and onomasiological category of Negation in Old English, Middle English, Early New English and New English. The work represents basic lexico-semantic groups of verb and noun bases, which actively participate in the formation of the onomasiological category of Negation across different periods in the history of the English. It includes a complex diachronical study of the English prefixal derivatives from the point of view of their word-formation potential within the onomasiological category of Negation. It presents an analysis of the considerable changes in the semantic and onomasiological structures within the frame of the onomasiological category of Negation in the history of the English language.

scholarly journals Gastronomic Vocabulary as a Feature of Nigerian English

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 820-836
Author(s):  
Anna A. Borisova ◽  
Yulia N. Ebzeeva
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Cultural Codes ◽  
Research Material ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
History Of

The World Englishes Paradigm studies various aspects of the English language characterized by specific peculiarities and changing as a result of contacts with indigenous languages and cultures. The history of English in Nigeria embraces 500 years of an interaction between highly different cultural systems and civilizations. Language contacts between English and the indigenous languages of Nigeria have led to its linguistic, cultural and intrastructural diversity. The aim of this article is to analyse the gastronomic vocabulary of Nigerian English influenced by the Nigerian worldview and culture. The research is focused on borrowings from African languages (mainly Yoruba and Igbo) that play a vital role in forming the culturally important lexicon of Nigerian English. The sources of the research material are dictionaries, as well as books by Nigerian writers composed in English. The analysis carried out in the course of the research allowed us to discover secondary nominations that denote Nigerian flora and cuisine, to reveal their metaphorical usage and to study corresponding figurative comparisons, idioms, proverbs and sayings. The investigation of gastronomic symbols in Nigerian speech shows universal processes of employing common gastronomic lexical units from real-life discourse as a basis for symbolization. The results of the study show that the gastronomic vocabulary and the images it creates constitute one of the most impressive Nigerian cultural codes. The knowledge of this vocabulary is instrumental in understanding those codes.

scholarly journals Middle english names of potters: the determinant analysis of the series of synonyms

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 124-130
Author(s):  
Oksana Dobrovolska ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Functional Differentiation ◽  
Semantic Group ◽  
Semantic System ◽  
Chronological Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Determinant Analysis

Background: The article deals with the scientific problem of the reconstruction of language evolution in the aspect of historical dynamics of linguistic processes in the semantic system of the English language. The topicality of the research is determined by the need to study the issues of the theories of language development, language changes, modern systemic linguistics and language interference in the parameters of the complex dynamic adaptive system on the basis of the numerical empirical material within the long chronological period in different functions. Purpose: It is relevant to study the development of a particular series of synonyms as a sub-system within the lexical-semantic group in the aspect of determinant analysis. The research methodology is the combination of the traditional linguistic methods together with new systemic functional techniques of the reconstruction of the evolution of semantic system. The aim of the article is to reconstruct the development of the semantic subsystem of the names of potters in Middle English by establishing the specifics of the support of the internal determinant of the semantic group of occupational terms in Middle English at the level of the series of synonyms. The tasks of the research are the following: to make analyses of the etymological composition of the word-stems, functional differentiation and chronological stratification of the first written attestations of the Middle English names of potters. The subject of the study is the etymological composition, functional differentiation and chronological stratification of the Middle English occupational terms. The object of the study is the series of synonyms – the names of potters as a subsystem of the semantic group of Middle English occupational terms. Results: There 8 names of potters in Middle English, forming 0.33% of the total number of Middle English occupational terms. The formation of the series of synonyms under study predominantly belongs to the 12th – 15th centuries, only one word being neologism of the Modern English period. The ratio of English words, loan-blends and borrowings is 55 %:15.5 %:12.5 %. Discussion: The scientific novelty of the research lies in the new functional approach to the history of vocabulary study, as well as the usage of new techniques of linguistic investigation applied to the new object of the study, esp. a particular series of synonyms as a constituent part of the larger systems of language. The results indicate the strict subordination of functioning and development of the series of synonyms of the Middle English names of potters to the language determinant of the semantic group of occupational terms and the English language as a whole. The article draws the prospective of further studies in the field of language evolution of the semantic system in the aspect of determinant analysis of its subsystems.

Examining authenticity from an ELF perspective: the development of listening test papers in Hong Kong (1986–2018)

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-165
Author(s):  
Jim Yee Him Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Communicative Strategies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Hong Kong English

Abstract The present study examined the degree of situational and interactional authenticity in Hong Kong’s listening examination papers throughout the history of colonisation and globalisation (1986–2018) with reference to world Englishes and particularly English as a lingua franca (ELF) research. By means of a detailed content analysis, the evaluation of situational authenticity was based on the context of language use (e.g., speech event type, nature of interaction, identity and accent of interlocutor) in the audio samples, while the evaluation of interactional authenticity centred on the speaker’s use of communicative strategies. Our findings suggest that the speech samples generally reflected the changing situations of language use over time by increasingly adopting dialogue (rather than monologue) and locally/globally relevant language use contexts, but only included native-speaker and (from 2012) Hong Kong English accents as speech models. Despite the lack of non-standardness and speakers of different cultures in the speech samples, there were numerous instances of explicitness strategies relevant to ELF interactions throughout the sample, probably owing to the intent of the listening examination to highlight key information for the candidates. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these trends in listening paper design for the future development of English language teaching from an ELF perspective.

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