Englisches Seminar
Universität Münster

SPRACHWISSENSCHAFTLICHES PROSEMINAR:
HISTORICAL LEXICOLOGY

SS 05
Mo 11-13, Room 032
Oliver M. Traxel


When we look at an English text written a few centuries ago, we encounter a large amount of linguistic differences. Apart from various grammatical changes we are likely to come across several words that are not familiar to us, either because of different spellings or because they have died out ever since. On the other hand, Present-Day English uses a large amount of words that had not been introduced into the language at that particular stage yet. In this seminar we will look at the development of English vocabulary from the Old English period until today. Specific focus will be on lexical increase and decrease as well as on orthographic and semantic changes and patterns of word formation.

All participants are expected to give short presentations and will have to sign up on the notice board as soon as possible, or they may lose their place. You are also expected to work with the OED on-line throughout the semester, which is subscription-based and therefore only available on the university network, accessible via Virtual Private Network on your home computer or in the SAC. Prospective participants should have taken part in a Sprachhistorischer Grundkurs.

The set text is G. Hughes, A History of English Words, (Oxford, 2000) (ISBN 0-631-18855-X), and copies should be bought in advance, for example, at Poertgen-Herder in the Salzstr., or at amazon.de. There is also a separate booklet with exercises available at the Seminar Library which you must copy before the seminar starts.

It is essential that candidates will have visited the following links to get a further impression of the course:

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