English 4513 History of the English Language

Online Fall 2021

Dr. Peter Fields, assoc. professor of English

peter.fields@msutexas.edu

Office Hours: MTWR 1:00 – 3:00 PM. I make a point of being in my office (Bea Wood 230) between NOON and 2 PM, Monday through Thursday. Students can show me their hard-copy drafts in person during office hours or by appointment.

ZOOM BY APPOINTMENT: Make an appointment with me by email. At the agreed-upon time, I will send you the link. ZOOM can divide the screen between you, me, and the Content in our D2L course, including your thread.

OFFICE PHONE: My campus office phone is 940-397-4246. Please leave your name, message, and the number to call you back.

LAND LINE: My students may also call me on my landline 940-766-6319 in the evenings, on Friday, or on the weekend. Please leave your name, message, and the number to call you back.

Required Book

This Language, A River: A History of English by K. Aaron Smith and Susan M. Kim. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-55481-3629.

Course goals

Write THREE Short Essays. Each essay (typed, double-spaced) would be about 900 words (about three pages). The prompt question is always the same: How does English work? We use only one source for this essay: This Language, A River. Use Purdue Owl for in-body citing and the one-item Works Cited. The Short Essay should NOT be longer than 1200 words (i.e., four pages).

The NARRATIVE is a typed double-spaced first-person “I” series of reflections, observations, and thoughts pivoting from, and coming back to, topics in This Language, A River. Choose SEVEN topics from our book. Length would be at least 2100 words (about seven pages) but no more than 4200 words (about 14 pages).

For the NARRATIVE, we are still answering that same question: How does English work? Students may include links to YouTube videos. They may feature graphics and illustrations from Google sources. Students may draw on grammar books, dictionaries, and other books on the history of the English Language. Students can use articles from journals. Use PURDUE OWL online for MLA in-body citing and Works Cited items.

NOTE: The NARRATIVE can bring in topics from the three Short Essays, but they cannot be the same phrasing (i.e., cannot be copied and pasted from a Short Essay). The topics must be explained, described, and phrased in new language.

THREAD

Students have the OPTION of submitting work-in-progress for my input. Go to the title of the relevant DISCUSSION FORUM, and click on the arrow by its title. In VIEW TOPIC type directly into the textbox your work-in-progress, or copy and paste into the text box from your own document. I will be notified in OUTLOOK. I will reply to your writing with both content and style suggestions. I will play the role of an editor. I do not evaluate in-progress work by attachment. NOTE: the THREAD is NOT a requirement. There is no obligation to show your work to me prior to submitting it to the drop box.

DROP BOX

ALL WORK MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE DROP BOX BY THE STUDENT in order to count and to be graded—even if I have already reviewed the entirety or part of the assignment ahead of time as a thread. The student’s document must STILL be submitted by the student to the assignment drop box in order to be graded and evaluated. It will not count otherwise. I do not evaluate work by attachment for a grade. I have provided a sample writing rubric at the end of this syllabus.

Grading

THREE 900-word responses to topics in This Language, A River:                      60 percent (20 percent each). The NARRATIVE is worth 40 percent by itself.

The Final Calculated Grade for D2L gradebook is our final semester grade. We use 100-90 (A), 89-80 (B), 79-70 (C), 69-60 (D), 59 50 (F). There is NO rounding up. If the Final Calculated Grade on D2L is 89.9, then the grade is a B for the semester.

The rubric confers an automatic 50 points (out of 100) for doing the assignment and producing original prose pertaining to This Language, a River and our prompt for all writing in our course: How does English work?

Suggested Daily Schedule & Due Dates:

Note: Dr. Fields must attend the annual convention for Rocky Mountain MLA October 14-16.

August 23-27 Week 1

Chapter 1. Introduction: Synchronic and diachronic approaches. Exercises 1.1-1.2.

August 30-Sept 3 Week 2

Chapter 2. Grammar Fundamentals, Parts of Speech, pp. 21-47. Exercises 2.1-2.10

Labor Day Holiday – Monday September 6

September 7-10 Week 3

Chapter 2, cont. Syntactic Relations for Nouns, pp. 50-55, exercises 2.11-2.14; Sentences, pp. 56-61. Exercises 2.15-2.17.

September 13-17 Week 4

Short Essay # 1 (900 words) due in drop box before 11:59 PM Thurs Sept 16. After this time, the drop box will mark submissions late. The lateness penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100.

September 20-24 Week 5

Chapter 3. Before English. Indo-European and Proto-Indo-European reconstruction, pp. 63-68. The Genetic model: PIE nouns and verbs, pp. 69-76. Exercises 3.1-3.6.

September 27-October 1 Week 6

Chapter 4. Introduction to Phonetics and the International Phonetic Alphabet, Symbols pp. 79-82. Consonants & Articulation & Voicing pp. 79-88. Exercises 4.1.1-12. Symbols pp. 79-82. Vowels, pp. 88-91, continued. Exercises 4.1.13-25.  

October 4-8 Week 7

Chapter 5. Germanic. Migrations and branches. Grimm’s Law. Verner’s Law, pp. 93-99. Fixed initial stress on root, two-tense systems. Strong and weak adjectives and verbs, pp. 100-105. Exercises 5.1-5.

Dr. Fields plans to attend the annual Rocky Mountain MLA convention October 14-16—right now the plan is for the convention to be virtual.

October 11-15 Week 8

Chapter 6, Four Concepts: orthography, phonology, morphology, and syntax. See especially phonemes, allophones, and morphemes, pp. 109-112

October 18-22 Week 9 [Midterm grades reported if D or F]

Chapter 7. Old English, Orthography pp. 113-27. Exercises 7.1-7.4. Phonology; Old English verb, pp. 128-36. Exercises 7.5-7.7. OE Personal Pronouns, pp. 136-141. Exercise 7.8. OE Adjective, Weak and Minor nouns, pp. 142-45, Exercises 7.9-7.10. Verb position, parataxis, hypotaxis, and subordination. Influence of Old Norse, pp. 152-60; Old English texts, pp. 160-68.

MONDAY OCT 25 4:00 PM is the last day for a penalty-free “W.”

October 25-29 Week 10

Short Essay # 2 (900 words) due in drop box before 11:59 PM Thurs October 28. After this time, the drop box will mark submissions late. The lateness penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100.

Chapter 8, Middle English, the Norman Conquest 169-177. Orthography, pp. 178-87. Exercises 8.1-8.4. Sound change and strong masculine nouns, pp. 188-91. Exercises 8.1-8.2. Loss of [N] in weak nouns, plurals, adjectives, determiners, Personal pronouns, pp. 192-97. Exercises 8.3-8.5. See also p. 144 (i-mutation, foot/feet). Expansion of the verb phrase, pp. 197-203. Exercise 8.6-8.10. Middle English literature, pp. 204-214.

November 1-5 Week 11

Chapter 9, Early Modern English. Phonology and the Great Vowel Shift, pp. 222-26. Exercise 9.2. Chapter 9, cont. morphology and syntax, pp. 227-38. Exercise 9.3. Hybrid Verbs, pp. 239-44. Exercise 9.4. The King James Bible, Swift, Johnson, and a-prefixed participles, pp. 244-55.

November 8-12 Week 12

Chapter 10 Modern Period & Global Englishes, Circles, Nigerian English, Singapore English, American English, pp. 257-70. Exercise 10.1. Immigration, slavery, geographic variation, vocal r, rhoticism, mapping dialects, pp. 270-80. Exercise 10.2. Sociolects, pp. 281-85. Exercise 10.3. African-American English, pidgins, creoles, Lumbee, pp. 285-97. Exercise 10.4

November 15-19 Week 13

Short Essay # 3 (900 words) due in drop box before 11:59 PM Thurs November 18. After this time, the drop box will mark submissions late. The lateness penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100.

Thanksgiving Holiday Wed-Fri November 24-26

November 22-26 & November 29-Dec 3 Weeks 14-15

Finishing the NARRATIVE

FINALS WEEK

NARRATIVE due in drop box before 11:59 PM Thursday December 9.

Plagiarism

Any use of a non-documented source as if it were a student’s original work is academic dishonesty. The grade will be a “0” (no points) for the assignment and the student can no longer attend the course.  If early enough in the semester, the student can bring the instructor a withdrawal slip for a penalty-free W. Otherwise the semester grade must be an F.

Language too close to source

Students sometimes borrow the phrasing of the play or their scholarly sources as if it were their own. Students certainly can use key words from their sources, but they must use their own phrasing—not the source’s.

Students with disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute for persons with disabilities and guarantees reasonable accommodation. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Disability Support Services in Room 168 of the Clark Student Center, 397-4140.

Attendance

There is no attendance penalty. I do keep track of first day, fourth day, and 12^th day attendance by reporting to the registrar what is indicated in D2L log-in history.

Late work

After the due date (11:59 PM on a Thursday), the drop box marks the submission as late; the late penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100. It will not go up if you take extra time. If students know they are going to be late, the best way to make up for the late penalty is by doing their best.

ORIGINALITY

Students should not fall into the trap of adapting or otherwise appropriating the writing-in-progress of someone’s thread. Students are at complete liberty to click on someone’s thread—that’s on purpose in this course. Students can learn from my input to someone’s work just as if we were using a blackboard in the classroom. But students are not at liberty to copy-and-paste or otherwise utilize a fellow student’s work-in-progress.

Writing Proficiency Requirement: All students seeking a Bachelor’s degree from Midwestern State University must satisfy a writing proficiency requirement once they have 1) completed 6 hours of Communication Core and 2) earned 60 hours. Students may meet this requirement by passing the Writing Proficiency Exam, passing two Writing Intensive courses, or passing English 2113. If you have any questions about the exam, visit the Writing Proficiency Office website or call 397-4131.

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English 5513 History of the English Language – GRADUATE STUDENT

Online Fall 2021

Dr. Peter Fields, assoc. professor of English

peter.fields@msutexas.edu

Office Hours: MTWR 1:00 – 3:00 PM. I make a point of being in my office (Bea Wood 230) between NOON and 2 PM, Monday through Thursday. Students can show me their hard-copy drafts in person during office hours or by appointment.

ZOOM BY APPOINTMENT: Make an appointment with me by email. At the agreed-upon time, I will send you the link. ZOOM can divide the screen between you, me, and the Content in our D2L course, including your thread.

OFFICE PHONE: My campus office phone is 940-397-4246. Please leave your name, message, and the number to call you back.

LAND LINE: My students may also call me on my landline 940-766-6319 in the evenings, on Friday, or on the weekend. Please leave your name, message, and the number to call you back.

Required Book

This Language, A River: A History of English. K. Aaron Smith and Susan M. Kim. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-55481-362-9.

Course goals

Write THREE typed and double-spaced SHORT ESSAYS (1500 words—about 5 pages) in support of a thesis position that answers this question: How does English work?

Each SHORT ESSAY should address something in our book This Language, A River. Use Purdue Owl for in-body citing and Works Cited. For Graduate students, these Short Essays may ALSO bring in other sources including dictionaries, articles in journals, other books on the English language, and YouTube videos.

For Graduate students, the NARRATIVE may be one of two things. The NARRATIVE can be a typed double-spaced first-person “I” series of reflections, observations, and thoughts relevant to language and topics in This Language, A River. This form of NARRATIVE would also draw on dictionaries, other materials (books, articles in journals) on the subject of the English language, and YouTube videos. The graduate student may utilize ideas from the Short Essays, but the material must be phrased and presented anew—not copied and pasted directly from the Short Essays. Use Purdue Owl for MLA in-body citing and Works Cited. The length would be about 4200 words (about 14 pages).

OR the NARRATIVE may be a STORY (finished or unfinished). It can be CREATIVE NONFICTION (first person, autobiographical, slice-of-life, episodic). Or it can be FICTIONAL and tell a story (first person or third person). Length would be about 4200 words (about 14 pages). It can be longer.

SUGGESTION: For the NARRATIVE, the graduate student might write a STORY that would feature elements of differing dialects. The THREE Short Essays could address issues in our book and other sources that indirectly pertain to the NARRATIVE story.

THREAD

Students have the OPTION of submitting work-in-progress for my input. Go to the title of the relevant DISCUSSION FORUM, and click on the arrow by its title. In VIEW TOPIC type directly into the textbox your work-in-progress, or copy and paste into the text box from your own document. I will be notified in OUTLOOK. I will reply to your paragraph(s) with both content and style suggestions. I play the role of an editor. NOTE: the THREAD is NOT a requirement. There is no obligation to show your work to me prior to submitting it to the drop box. NOTE: For threads, Graduate students should use the lower MODULES marked for Graduate students (on the CONTENT page).

DROP BOX

ALL WORK MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE DROP BOX BY THE STUDENT—even if I have already reviewed the entirety or part of the assignment ahead of time. The student’s document must STILL be submitted to the assignment drop box to count and to be graded. I have provided a sample writing rubric at the end of this syllabus.

Grading

Three 1500-word responses to topics in This Language, A River: 60 percent (20 percent each). The NARRATIVE is worth 40 percent by itself.

The Final Calculated Grade for D2L gradebook is our final semester grade. We use 100-90 (A), 89-80 (B), 79-70 (C), 69-60 (D), 59 50 (F).

There is NO rounding up. If the Final Calculated Grade on D2L is 89.9, then the grade is a B for the semester.

The rubric confers an automatic 50 points (out of 100) for doing the assignment and producing original prose pertaining to This Language, a River and our prompt for all writing in our course: How does English work?

Suggested Daily Schedule & Due Dates:

August 23-27 Week 1

Chapter 1. Introduction: Synchronic and diachronic approaches. Exercises 1.1-1.2.

August 30-Sept 3 Week 2

Chapter 2. Grammar Fundamentals, Parts of Speech, pp. 21-47. Exercises 2.1-2.10

Labor Day Holiday – Monday September 6

September 7-10 Week 3

Chapter 2, cont. Syntactic Relations for Nouns, pp. 50-55, exercises 2.11-2.14; Sentences, pp. 56-61. Exercises 2.15-2.17.

September 13-17 Week 4

Short Essay # 1 (1500 words) due in drop box before 11:59 PM Thurs Sept 16. After this time, the drop box will mark submissions late. The lateness penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100.

September 20-24 Week 5

Chapter 3. Before English. Indo-European and Proto-Indo-European reconstruction, pp. 63-68. The Genetic model: PIE nouns and verbs, pp. 69-76. Exercises 3.1-3.6.

September 27-October 1 Week 6

Chapter 4. Introduction to Phonetics and the International Phonetic Alphabet, Symbols pp. 79-82. Consonants & Articulation & Voicing pp. 79-88. Exercises 4.1.1-12. Symbols pp. 79-82. Vowels, pp. 88-91, continued. Exercises 4.1.13-25.

October 4-8 Week 7

Chapter 5. Germanic. Migrations and branches. Grimm’s Law. Verner’s Law, pp. 93-99. Fixed initial stress on root, two-tense systems. Strong and weak adjectives and verbs, pp. 100-105. Exercises 5.1-5.

Dr. Fields plans to attend the annual Rocky Mountain MLA convention October 14-16—right now the plan is for the convention to be virtual.

October 11-15 Week 8

Chapter 6, Four Concepts: orthography, phonology, morphology, and syntax. See especially phonemes, allophones, and morphemes, pp. 109-112

October 18-22 Week 9 [Midterm grades reported if D or F]

Chapter 7. Old English, Orthography pp. 113-27. Exercises 7.1-7.4. Phonology; Old English verb, pp. 128-36. Exercises 7.5-7.7. OE Personal Pronouns, pp. 136-141. Exercise 7.8. OE Adjective, Weak and Minor nouns, pp. 142-45, Exercises 7.9-7.10. Verb position, parataxis, hypotaxis, and subordination. Influence of Old Norse, pp. 152-60; Old English texts, pp. 160-68.

MONDAY OCT 25 4:00 PM is the last day for a penalty-free “W.”

October 25-29 Week 10

Short Essay # 2 (1500 words) due in drop box before 11:59 PM Thurs October 28. After this time, the drop box will mark submissions late. The lateness penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100.

Chapter 8, Middle English, the Norman Conquest 169-177. Orthography, pp. 178-87. Exercises 8.1-8.4. Sound change and strong masculine nouns, pp. 188-91. Exercises 8.1-8.2. Loss of [N] in weak nouns, plurals, adjectives, determiners, Personal pronouns, pp. 192-97. Exercises 8.3-8.5. See also p. 144 (i-mutation, foot/feet). Expansion of the verb phrase, pp. 197-203. Exercise 8.6-8.10. Middle English literature, pp. 204-214.

November 1-5 Week 11

Chapter 9, Early Modern English. Phonology and the Great Vowel Shift, pp. 222-26. Exercise 9.2. Chapter 9, cont. morphology and syntax, pp. 227-38. Exercise 9.3. Hybrid Verbs, pp. 239-44. Exercise 9.4. The King James Bible, Swift, Johnson, and a-prefixed participles, pp. 244-55.

November 8-12 Week 12

Chapter 10 Modern Period & Global Englishes, Circles, Nigerian English, Singapore English, American English, pp. 257-70. Exercise 10.1. Immigration, slavery, geographic variation, vocal r, rhoticism, mapping dialects, pp. 270-80. Exercise 10.2. Sociolects, pp. 281-85. Exercise 10.3. African-American English, pidgins, creoles, Lumbee, pp. 285-97. Exercise 10.4

November 15-19 Week 13

Short Essay # 3 (1500 words) due in drop box before 11:59 PM Thurs November 18. After this time, the drop box will mark submissions late. The lateness penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100.

Thanksgiving Holiday Wed-Fri November 24-26

November 22-26 & November 29-Dec 3 Weeks 14-15

Finishing the NARRATIVE

Finals Week

NARRATIVE due in drop box before 11:59 PM Thursday December 9.

Plagiarism

Any use of a non-documented source as if it were a student’s original work is academic dishonesty. The grade will be a “0” (no points) for the assignment and the student can no longer attend the course.  If early enough in the semester, the student can bring the instructor a withdrawal slip for a penalty-free W. Otherwise the semester grade must be an F.

Language too close to source

Students sometimes borrow the phrasing of the play or their scholarly sources as if it were their own. Students certainly can use key words from their sources, but they must use their own phrasing—not the source’s.

Students with disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute for persons with disabilities and guarantees reasonable accommodation. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Disability Support Services in Room 168 of the Clark Student Center, 397-4140.

Attendance

There is no attendance penalty. I do keep track of first day, fourth day, and 12^th day attendance by reporting to the registrar what is indicated in D2L log-in history.

Late work

After the due date (11:59 PM on a Thursday), the drop box marks the submission as late; the late penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100. It will not go up if you take extra time. If students know they are going to be late, the best way to make up for the late penalty is by doing their best.

ORIGINALITY

Students should not fall into the trap of adapting or otherwise appropriating the writing-in-progress of someone’s thread. Students are at complete liberty to click on someone’s thread—that’s on purpose in this course. Students can learn from my input to someone’s work just as if we were using a blackboard in the classroom. But students are not at liberty to copy-and-paste or otherwise utilize a fellow student’s work-in-progress. 

See model rubric in attached syllabi for ENGL 4513 and ENGL 5513

There is no attendance penalty. I use D2L Login History for reporting first day, fourth day, and 12 day attendance to the Registrar.

Drop boxes will mark submissions after the due date as late. The late penalty is capped at 10 points out of 100.

Note: You may not submit a paper for a grade in this class that already has been (or will be) submitted for a grade in another course, unless you obtain the explicit written permission of me and the other instructor involved in advance.

Plagiarism is the use of someone else's thoughts, words, ideas, or lines of argument in your own work without appropriate documentation (a parenthetical citation at the end and a listing in "Works Cited")-whether you use that material in a quote, paraphrase, or summary. It is a theft of intellectual property and will not be tolerated, whether intentional or not.

Student Honor Creed

As an MSU Student, I pledge not to lie, cheat, steal, or help anyone else do so."

As students at MSU, we recognize that any great society must be composed of empowered, responsible citizens. We also recognize universities play an important role in helping mold these responsible citizens. We believe students themselves play an important part in developing responsible citizenship by maintaining a community where integrity and honorable character are the norm, not the exception.

Thus, We, the Students of Midwestern State University, resolve to uphold the honor of the University by affirming our commitment to complete academic honesty. We resolve not only to be honest but also to hold our peers accountable for complete honesty in all university matters.

We consider it dishonest to ask for, give, or receive help in examinations or quizzes, to use any unauthorized material in examinations, or to present, as one's own, work or ideas which are not entirely one's own. We recognize that any instructor has the right to expect that all student work is honest, original work. We accept and acknowledge that responsibility for lying, cheating, stealing, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty fundamentally rests within each individual student.

We expect of ourselves academic integrity, personal professionalism, and ethical character. We appreciate steps taken by University officials to protect the honor of the University against any who would disgrace the MSU student body by violating the spirit of this creed.

Written and adopted by the 2002-2003 MSU Student Senate.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Disability Support Services in Room 168 of the Clark Student Center, (940) 397-4140.

The professor considers this classroom to be a place where you will be treated with respect as a human being - regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, political beliefs, age, or ability. Additionally, diversity of thought is appreciated and encouraged, provided you can agree to disagree. It is the professor's expectation that ALL students consider the classroom a safe environment.

All instructors in the Department have voicemail in their offices and MSUTexas e-mail addresses. Make sure you add your instructor's phone number and e-mail address to both email and cell phone lists of contacts.

All students seeking a Bachelor's degree from Midwestern State University must satisfy a writing proficiency requirement once they've 1) passed the 6 hours of Communication Core and 2) earned 60 hours. Students may meet this requirement in one of three ways: by passing the Writing Proficiency Exam, passing two Writing Intensive Courses (only one can be in the core), or passing English 2113. If you have any questions about the exam, visit the Writing Proficiency Office website at https://msutexas.edu/academics/wpr, or call 397-4131.

Senate Bill 11 passed by the 84th Texas Legislature allows licensed handgun holders to carry concealed handguns on campus, effective August 1, 2016. Areas excluded from concealed carry are appropriately marked, in accordance with state law. For more information regarding campus carry, please refer to the University’s webpage at https://msutexas.edu/campus-carry/rules-policies.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact MSU Chief of Police at police@msutexas.edu.