The central topic of this seminar is to investigate language change. We will discuss roughly 1500 years focussing on periods that have conventionally been classified as "turning-points" in the linguistic history of the English language. Our inquiry will encompass processes of language internal change as well as the external influence as a result of language contact.
The seminar itself will be presented as a downloadable podcast plus ppt-presentation, meaning that there is no weekly live session. However, we will meet a few times to clarify organizational matters and/or any questions that come up.