Context brings the brightest minds to your living room with perspective-shifting online lectures.
History of the English Language – Past, Present, and Future: A Six-Part Course with Dr. Asya Pereltsvaig
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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.
Asya makes language change make perfect sense. She explains the historical reasons behind English language change, tying together many big events from history that caused it (and continue to change it as well). I love understanding these connections.
Asya provides an excellent deep dive into English, explaining the influence of cultural and historical events as well as linguistically changes. She has wonderful slides along with some recordings to highlight the information presented. Aysa is a very enthusiastic, engaging lecturer and welcomes questions.
I've attended five of the six sessions so far and am loving every minute. The course is really interesting and Dr Asya Pereltsvaig is very knowledgeable and explains the history and evolution on the English language in a way that makes it very accessible and easy to understand.
Substance; context; erudition (writ lightly); all presented with humor, wit, verve, and delight.
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!