Skip to main content

eServices scheduled downtime, July 11–July 13 | Fall 2025 Registration window now open. | Undergraduate Final Deadline is July 28 for fall term
Metropolitan State University (Home)

LING 547 History of the English Language

This course emphasizes the evolution of English in connection with historical, social, literary and linguistic forces. Topics addressed include Old English language in the Anglo-Saxon culture; the effects on English of the Norman Conquest, the Renaissance and the invention of printing; British colonialism; the spread of English to Asia, Africa and America; the modern development of the language; and underlying principles of change ruling various types of linguistic phenomena that take place during the natural historical development of a language.
4 Undergraduate credits

Effective August 1, 1998 to present

Meets graduation requirements for

Learning outcomes

General

  • Analyze and identify historical samples of English in terms of linguistic structures and in terms of historical and cultural context - at a level consistent with the analytical and expressive complexity and sophistication that are distinctly characteristic of advanced-standing English majors at a comprehensive university.
  • Comprehend relationships between English and Indo-European, Latin, Romance languages, and Germanic languages - at a level consistent with the analytical and expressive complexity and sophistication that are distinctly characteristic of advanced-standing English majors at a comprehensive university.
  • Distinguish and classify internal and external factors in the development of English - at a level consistent with the analytical and expressive complexity and sophistication that are distinctly characteristic of advanced-standing English majors at a comprehensive university.
  • Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition.
  • Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures.
  • Know the history of the English language, with key trends and influences in the evolution of English from circa 500 A.D. to the present - at a level consistent with the analytical and expressive complexity and sophistication that are distinctly characteristic of advanced-standing English majors at a comprehensive university.
  • Recognize and identify changing structures of English phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon - at a level consistent with the analytical and expressive complexity and sophistication that are distinctly characteristic of advanced-standing English majors at a comprehensive university.
  • Use and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories.