Vorlesung "History of the English Language"
Content: This survey lecture shows language in its socio-cultural contexts: its rela-tionship to power and technology,
to historical personalities and social groups. It ranges from the Romans to William the Conquerer, from Caxton to
Dr. Johnson or Noah Webster, from Matthew Arnold to Bill Gates and from the medieval scriptorium to the internet.
It gives the background necessary to understand the world-wide forms and functions of English today and tries to draw
general conclusions about the socio-cultural factors affecting language (change) today and in the past.
Details of the course programme can be found on the accompanying Wiki: https://twiki.tu-chemnitz.de/bin/view/English/HistoryEnglish