Linguistics/English 442
Changing Words:
History, Semantics and Translation
English 442
Linguistics 442
Sections: 16878 (English); 16877 (Linguistics)
Instructor: Dr. James Santucci
Office: EC-610
Contact: Tel.: 714/278-3727
E-mail:
Fax: 693-0142
Office Hours: Monday: 10:00 – 11:00 PM
Wednesday: 1:30 – 3:30 PM
Thursday: 1:00 - 2:00 PM
Time of Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays: 2:30 – 3:45 PM
Room: MH 685
REQUIRED BOOK:
The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories
Edited by Glynnis Chantrell
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
ISBN: 0-19-863121-9
History in English Words
Owen Barfield
Lindisfarne Books, 192 pages, paperback
ISBN 0-940262-11-8 $10.95
E-MAIL ACCOUNTS
All students are required to have e-mail accounts. You will need an e-mail address to create an account on the Blackboard web site. My suggestion is to use the Fullerton student account since AOL and Hotmail have caused problems in the past. If you change your e-mail address, be sure to change it on the Blackboard site as well.
WEB SITE:
The Blackboard web site will provide access to your grades, discussion questions, and e-mail. Be sure to Create an account and logon at least twice a week. Part of the attendance and participation is based on the use of this site. The address to this site is:
http://blackboard.fullerton.edu. The instructions are as follows
BLACKBOARD 5.5 WEB SITE:
http://blackboard.fullerton.edu
CREATING AN ACCOUNT:
Students can create an account by completing the following steps:
1. Open Netscape 4.7 (or higher) or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (or higher).
2. Go to http://blackboard.fullerton.edu.
3. Click Create New Account.
4. Complete the form items identified with a red asterisk.
5. Click the Submit Button.
6. Click the OK button.
NOTE: After the student creates the account, the system will automatically login and take the student to “My Fullerton.”
ENROLLING IN A COURSE:
Students can enroll in a course by completing the following steps (Skip steps 1 through 5 if you just created an account):
1. Open Netscape 4.7 (or higher) or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (or higher version).
2. Go to http://blackboard.fullerton.edu.
3. Click the Login button.
4. Type the username and password.
5. Click the Login button.
6. Click the Courses tab.
7. Search for the course using the course ID or course name or browse through the course catalog. The course ID is Linguistics442. Identify the course and click on the Enroll button.
8. Click on the Submit button.
NOTE: The system will deny access the communication and other tools if
Students failed to enroll in the course.
BLACKBOARD 5 - STUDENT ONLINE TRAINING MANUAL
http://company.blackboard.com/Bb5/manuals/Bb5-LevelOne-Student
CATALOG (2001-2003) DESCRIPTION
Prerequisites: Linguistics 430, English 490 or consent of instructor. Study of Etymology, related problems of Lexicography and translation. Recent
developments in theory of semantic change as related to cultural shifts.
Emphasis on words, collocations, idioms. (Same as English 442)
DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE
This course is designed to introduce the student to a historical study of selected words in the English language. This involves an overview of what might be called diachronic semantics: a study of the meanings assigned to words over an extended period of time.
Because of the extensive nature of the subject, this course will discuss a number of subjects that may fall under the purview of other subjects, especially historical linguistics and general semantics. Therefore, “meaning” of words in all its ramifications will be discussed, including conventional and motivated words, words that are either precise or vague in meaning, and those that are emotive rather than informative. Words may also be considered in groups, which we commonly know as synonymy, antonymy, and hyponymy. Words are created by various means: through borrowing from other languages or by synthesizing through such processes as derivation, composition, and blending. Meanings do not remain the same; words do change their meanings over time. More importantly, it is possible to classify such changes by any number of categories: for instance, by their source (linguistic, historical, or social) or by the relation between earlier and later meanings (widening or narrowing of meaning, amelioration or pejoration).
The English lexicon possesses perhaps the largest number of words of any language, in main due to the adaptation of words from dozens, if not hundreds, of languages. Since the documentation of English in its written records is unbroken, it is possible to trace the influx of words from a number of invasions of Great Britain from as early as the Roman conquest and colonization of the island in 55 BCE. Later invasions include the Germanic invasions of the 5th century and the Christianization of England, the coming of the Vikings of the 8th and 9th centuries, the Norman conquest of 1066, the Renaissance that began to influence England by the end of the 15th century, the Age of Exploration from the 15th century, and the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries. With all these developments, we can classify the English lexicon as consisting of native words, words of Germanic origin, non-Germanic Indo-European words, words that are borrowed, words that arise through institutions such as Christianity, words that arise through conquest (such as the French influx brought about by the Norman invasion), and Greek and Latin words that are given unique combinations by the English educated elite.
REQUIREMENTS
The subject matter of Linguistics/English 442 includes the entire English lexicon, a familiarity with a number of other languages, a knowledge of a number of processes and those labels attached to such processes. Therefore, learning must occur through persistent and repeated exposure to the subject matter rather through a burst of activity that usually accompanies memorization and testing. In other words, research is far more productive than memorization. With this in mind, the requirements include three tasks:
1. A research paper (10-13 pages, double-spaced) that covers one or more classes of words (based on root, meaning, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, process, semantic development, or any combination of these).
The paper should incorporate major sources, including the Oxford English Dictionary, the sources mentioned in the OED containing the words, articles and books that may exist that discuss the words, and web sites that may also contain discussions of the words. The paper is worth a total of 60% of the final grade: 50% for the paper, 10% for the presentation. [NOTE: the 50% value includes the assignments for March 11 and April 17. If you miss these dates or do not show up for class, points will be taken off. There is no make up should you miss your presentation.]
a. March 11: There will be a class devoted to the papers.
Bibliographies, outlines, and a one-page
description of the goals and objectives of the paper
must be turned in. Be prepared to give a 10-minute
presentation on the state of your research,
including problems that may have arisen, sources
located, any major discoveries, and any other issue
that you may wish to raise. (March 13 is also
available for this activity should the need arise.)
b. April 17: Update on your research. Bring your rough draft to
class. Another student will read the draft and offer
suggestions.
c. May 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22: Student presentations. The
presentation should be about 15 to 20 minutes and
be based on the findings in your paper.
2. Student presentations and assignments include short (about 10
minutes) presentations on subjects assigned to the students. These include reports on etymologies of words or word classes culled from dictionaries and other sources. Assignments will be discussed in classes and posted on the web site. The assignments will be worth 25%. You are encouraged to use visual aids.
3. Attendance and participation (15%): Your presence in class is encouraged. If you are absence, please contact me within a day of the absence. Each unexcused absence will reduce the final grade by 2 points.
Student Objectives and Goals
By the end of the semester, students should be familiar with the following:
1. The labels describing the types of semantic changes within words;
2. The processes that describe semantic development;
3. Word classes
2 (ling442_syll_sp_03.doc)