Spring 2026, Mondays and Wednesdays, 2.00 – 3.15 p.m.
This course is an introduction to the history of the English language, from Old English (Anglo-Saxon) to Present-Day English (PDE). We’ll focus on the development of specific grammatical and phonetic features, but we’ll also think about larger historical narratives that intersect with HEL, and our primary texts will be examples from the English literary tradition. Throughout the semester we will confront the major ideological and theoretical issues raised by a course that treats “English” as stable or unitary over a span of more than 1,500 years. What is English? Are some versions better, or more “correct,” than others? And how does the global character of English change or adapt between its earliest, pre-Conquest forms and its post-colonial iterations?
DeVan Ard 