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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Language Sciences

Postgraduate Course: Historical Phonology (LASC11053)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course combines a consideration of some classic and contemporary issues in historical phonology with an investigation into some notable changes that have occurred in the history of English and other languages.
Course description How does Phonology change? Why does it change? How can we reconstruct past stages of English and other languages? This course considers some of the key phenomena that can be discussed in connection with the phonological history of English and other languages; it also considers many of the general linguistic points that we need to take into account when we try to understand phonological change. Many of the changes and types of changes that we will investigate will come from periods in the history of the English, from its 'prehistory', and from the variation that can be observed in present-day varieties, but we will also consider changes from other languages as we attempt to understand how and in what way the phonology of a language can change. We will also investigate how our knowledge of the patterns of change in phonology fits in with general models of phonological theory.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. explain the issues involved in the investigation of phonological change
  2. analyse key phenomena in the history of the phonology of English and other languages using the fundamental tools of phonological theory
  3. investigate how general issues in (i) historical linguistic theory and (ii) phonological theory hold-up when confronted with a detailed investigation of data from the history of English phonology
  4. progress onto the study of current live research questions in historical English phonology and in general language-universal historical phonology
Reading List
Campbell, L. (1998) Historical Linguistics: an Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Crowley, Terry (1987/1992/1997/2010). Introduction to Historical Linguistics. Auckland: Oxford University Press.

Hock, H, & Joseph, B. (1996) Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Lehmann, W. (1992). Historical Linguistics: an Introduction. London: Routledge.

Trask, R.L. (1996). Historical Linguistics. London: Arnold.

Trask, R. L. (2000) Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Hock, H. (1986) Principles of Historical Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Bermúdez-­Otero, R. (2006) 'Diachronic phonology'. In de Lacy, P. (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology. Cambridge: CUP.

Hale, M. (2003) 'Neogrammarian Sound Change' In Joseph & Janda (eds) The Handbook of Historical Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

Hale, M. (2007) Historical Linguistics: Theory and Method. Oxford: Blackwell.

Kiparsky, P. (1995) 'The phonological basis of sound change' In Goldsmith, J. (ed) Handbook of Phonological Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. Also in Joseph & Janda (2003) The Handbook of Historical Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

Kiparsky, Paul (1988) 'Phonological change.' In F. Newmeyer (ed.) Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey. I: Linguistic Theory - Foundations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Labov, W. (1994) Principles of Linguistic Change. Vol.1, Internal Factors. Oxford: Blackwell.

Lass, R, (1997) Historical Linguistics and Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McMahon, A. (1994) Understanding Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ringe, D. & Eska, J. (2013) Historical Linguistics: Toward a Twenty-­First Century Reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Scheer, Tobias (2004) 'How minimal is phonological change?' Folia Linguistica Historica 25, 69-­114.

Lehmann, W. (ed) (1967) A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Morpurgo Davies, A. (1997). History of Linguistics. Vol. 4: Nineteenth-­Century Linguistics. London: Longman.

Dobson, E. (1968) English Pronunciation 1500-­1700. Volume 2: Phonology. Second edition. Oxford: Clarendon.

Hogg, R. (1992) A Grammar of Old English. Volume 1: phonology. Oxford: Blackwell.

Hogg, R. (ed) (1992-­2001) The Cambridge History of the English Language. Six volumes.

Jones, C (1989) A History of English Phonology. London: Longman.

Lass, R. (1987) The Shape of English: Structure and History. London: Dent.

Lass, R. (1994) Old English: a Historical Linguistic Companion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Minokva, D. (2014) A Historical Phonology of English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Prins, A. (1972) A History of English Phonemes: from Indo-European to present-day English. Leiden: Leiden University Press.

RInge, D. (2009) A Linguistic History of English: from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-­Germanic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

RInge, D & Taylor, A. (2014) A Linguistic History of English: The Development of Old English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Luick, K. (1964) Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache. Reprint of original (1914-­1944) Oxford: Blackwell.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Additional Class Delivery Information Attend all lectures as scheduled
Keywordshistorical,phonology
Contacts
Course organiserDr Benjamin Molineaux Ress
Tel: (0131 6)50 6977
Email: benjamin.molineaux@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Sasha Wood
Tel:
Email: swood310@ed.ac.uk
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