History of the English Language – Past, Present, and Future: A Six-Part Course with Dr. Asya Pereltsvaig
Why, for example, do we spell “see” and “sea” differently although we pronounce them exactly the same? And what did the Black Death have to do with it? Why is the plural of “foot” “feet” and of “tooth” “teeth” but the plural of “book” is not “beek”? And why are “whither” and “whence” so confusing to us today? Answers to these questions will emerge as we explore the development of English, from its Anglo-Saxon beginnings on the continent, through the influences of the Celts, Vikings, and Normans, and to the globalization of English since the 1700s.
Led by an expert on linguistics and history Asya Pereltsvaig, Ph.D., this Conversation will shed light on English as it is today, its structure, history, and diversity through the lens of its history. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of English, our beloved mother tongue and lingua franca.
This course has been designed to be enjoyed as part of a series. We invite you to explore:
Lecture Two – The Anglo-Saxons and their language, Old English. How the Celts affected English.
Lecture Three – English in the Viking Age. Is English really Engelsk, an offshoot of Old Norse? How the Vikings dismantled Old English.
Lecture Four – The Norman Conquest and Middle English. French influence on English.
Lecture Five – Pronunciation changes in Renaissance English. Why English spelling today is so weird. Other influences in the Early Modern Period: Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, the printing press, and the American Founding Fathers.
Lecture Six – English goes global with the rise of colonialization.
Asya Pereltsvaig received a PhD in Linguistics from McGill University and has taught at Yale, Cornell and Stanford, as well as in several U.S. and European universities. Her expertise is in language and history, and the relationship between them. Her most recent books, Languages of the World: An Introduction, 3rd edition (2020) and The Indo-European Controversy: Facts and Fallacies in Historical Linguistics (2015) were published by Cambridge University Press.
This conversation is suitable for all ages.
90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.
I enjoyed Dr. Asya Perltsvaig's 6 part course on the History of the English Language immensely. There was so much interesting information about how English developed. I would certainly take another course from Dr. Pereltsvaig as she is so knowledgeable and personable. The time flew by and I wanted more!
This was a 4-part course, not 6-part, but it could easily have been expanded to 6 or even 8 weeks. There was SO much information presented, in an easily accessible format.
Dr Pereltsvaig, in six sessions, concisely provided history in a multimedia format, which appealed to the senses. I appreciated her wealth of knowledge both as a linguist and as a seasoned educator. The English language is fascinating, even more so now with my newly-acquired knowledge.
I really liked that the professor started way back before "English" even existed, and showed how historical influxes of people added new vocabulary and changed grammar. I hadn't realized that there were so many different influences on the development of English.
Series was excellent