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History of the English Language (In one day)

The project

You and a partner will investigate various stages in the development of the English Language. Together, you will use the following websites to answer a set of questions (on a google doc), and then you will (again, together) record your recitation of a piece of text (in Old or Middle English). Upload your answers to the question and your audio or video recording to Canvas.

Websites for the Search

English Literature Timeline: Interactive timeline of literature and language from the British Library (currently down)

How Y’all, Youse, and You Guys Talk: quiz on the dialects of American English

North American English Dialect Map (this thing is intensive!)

History of the English Language Infographic

A Language Family Tree

Letters that Didn’t Make the Alphabet

History of the English Language (englishclub.com)

Key Events in the History of the English Language (thoughtco)

 

Questions to Answer

Some answers may come from the video, others from the links above! Try not to just Google Search (although you can certainly do some searches of your own). The curated links are interesting reads!

  1. What big language family does English come from?
  2. What branch of this language family does English come from?
  3. Where did the Anglo-Saxons come from?
  4. What kinds of words do we still use today that come from the Anglo-Saxons?
  5. What did the Vikings add to our language?
  6. What letters did the Anglo-Saxons use that we no longer use in our alphabet today?
  7. List at least 4 works of literature written in Old English.
  8. What big event happened in England in 1066?
  9. How did our language change after 1066?
  10. List at least 3 works of literature written in Middle English.
  11. What form of English were Shakespeare’s Plays and the King James Bible written in?
  12. What major book in Early Modern English is having its 400th anniversary this year?
  13. What was the big achievement of Samuel Johnson in 1755?
  14. What are some ways that colonization changed the English Language?
  15. What are some ways American English is different from British English?
  16. List a few current American English dialects.
  17. Which dialect is the closest to what you speak?
  18. What’s the difference between a pidgin and a creole? List some English-based examples of each.
  19. Write down a simple phrase from two different pidgins or creoles that you listed above.
  20. What can you tell me about Gullah?
  21. About how many people speak a version of English today?
  22. What are some ways that the Internet has changed English?

Final Step

Choose one of these brief texts to recite (in your best attempt at the actual pronunciation!). Original Language versions are below. You only need to recite 10-20 lines or so! Try to get your pronunciation as accurate as possible. Give it a go and have fun!

  1. Caedmon’s Hymn (Old English – Video)
  2. Opening to Beowulf (Old English – Video)
  3. Bookworm Riddle (Old English – Video)
  4. The Lord’s Prayer (Old English – Video)
  5. Intro to The Canterbury Tales (Middle English – Video)
  6. The Lord’s Prayer (Middle English – Video)
  7. Intro to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (rural Middle English – Video)