Postgraduate Course: Early Germanic Dialects (LASC11116)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Our earliest English is Old English, the language spoken in Britain by Germanic tribes who migrated here from the continent in the course of the fifth century. The arrival of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes marked a watershed: English, whose speakers were now separated from Germanic tribes that remained on the continent, embarked on a separate trajectory of development. The Germanic dialects on the continent ultimately developed into present-day German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages, each with their own lexicon, grammar, and sound systems. Yet all these languages share a common core that marks them as members of the same language family, Germanic, as well as a cultural core of legendary figures of the Germanic past. Although the position of Old English is unique in this family with respect of the early dating of its texts, and the sheer size of its textual corpus, the other early Germanic "dialects" are also well-documented. This course offers a comparative study of the early Germanic languages: Gothic (East Germanic), Old Norse (North Germanic), Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Low Franconian and Old High German (West Germanic), in the context of the historical background of the Germanic tribes and the Migration Period. These linguistic data will be reviewed in the light of recent insights into modelling dialect continuums, and into the effects of language or dialect contact.
Feedback:
- Interactive exercises on LEARN about points of grammar etc. so that the students can see how well they are doing
- Option of getting individual feedback on a short assignment that can be handed in through Learn every two weeks
- A session with all the students as an exam briefing and question hour two or three days before the exam |
| Course description |
Not entered
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2014/15, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 26,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
168 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework (50%)
Exam (50%)
Coursework Deadline: Thursday 14th May 2015, 12 noon
Coursework Page Limit: 11-15 pages not counting references or appendix
Coursework Format: Times New Roman, font 12, double spacing
Coursework Return Date: 5th June 2014
Exam to be Scheduled: TBC
Exam Return Date: tbc, approximately 3 weeks after exam takes place |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Early Germanic Dialects | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
- An understanding of the shared linguistic history of the Germanic languages
- An understanding of linguistic relatedness and language change
- An understanding of the linguistic impact of language or dialect contact
- An ability to read research papers and present their content to a peer audience
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Reading List
| Robinson, Orrin (1992). Old English and its closest relatives: a survey of the earliest Germanic languages. Stanford Calif.: Stanford University Press |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Bettelou Los
Tel: (0131 6)51 1842
Email: blos@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Toni Noble
Tel: (0131 6)51 3188
Email: Toni.noble@ed.ac.uk |
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