The emphasis will be on the major, most influential and interesting events within each period, such as the adoption of Latin writing by Anglo-Saxons, the multilingual situation in England after the Norman Conquest, the Great Vowel Shift, standardisation efforts in early Modern English (including the publication of Johnson's dictionary), and the development of English as an international language and as a language of electronic media.
Course programme
Friday 1 July 2016
Please plan to arrive between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms.
19:00 Dinner
20:30 Historical study of English
22:00 Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Saturday 2 July 2016
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Old English language and literary tradition
10:30 Coffee
11:00 Old English manuscripts. Beowulf.
12:30 Free
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Free
16:00 Tea
16:30 Middle English: cultural and linguistic changes after the Normal Conquest
18:30 Dinner
20:00 Middle English: linguistic diversity. Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Sunday 3 July 2016
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Early Modern English
10:30 Coffee
11:00 Modern English
12:30 Free
12:45 Lunch
The course will disperse after lunch.
