Proseminar Introduction to Middle English

The course will take place on Monday morning in January and February, 2016. We will study selected literary, historical, and religious texts (prose, verse, drama) from the 14th century from linguistic and literary perspectives. The history of the English language (phonology, morphology, and syntax) will be studied with a special focus on the relevance of Middle English to the understanding of Modern English. The mandatory textbook is Kenneth Sisam's -14th Centruy Verse and Prose-. This book has been published under two different titles, but the contents are basically identical, so be equipped with either A Middle English reader, ed. by Kenneth Sisam, with A Middle English vocabulary by J. R. R. Tolkien. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005, or: Fourteenth century verse and prose, ed. by Kenneth Sisam, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975. From this textbook, the following texts (in this order) will be studied in class: XVII Townley Play of Noah: l. 1-207; IX Mandeville's Travels: l. 1-261; XIII John of Trevisa, Marvels of Britain; IV Richard Rolle of Hampole, Love is Life l. 1-60; The Nature of the Bee, 1. 1-52; XV Poems A, B, C; III Michel of Northgate's Ayenbyte of Inwyt, How Mercy Increases Temporal Goods I Robert Mannyng of Brunne, Handlyng of Synne, Excerpts quoted in Introduction and l. 1-149; XI John Wyclif, B Of Feigned Contemplative Life, l. 1-144; X John Barbour, The Bruce, l. 1-131; In preparation of the first class, all students are requested to read the chapter on the history of the English language of the OK textbook Becker, Annette & Markus Bieswanger (2006). Introduction to English Linguistics. Tübingen: UTB, p. 17ff. A parallel (and supplementary reading) is the survey of Middle English (sound changes, morphology, and metre) on pp. 3-37, 41, 56-61 of Burrow, J.A. & Thorlac Turville-Petre. 1996. A Book of Middle English. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell. Three main types of participation (depending on requirements of Modulprüfungsordnung) are: • Regular participation (with weekly assignments) + final test Klausur • Regular participation (with weekly assignments) + term paper (Hausarbeit): see below • Regular active participation without final exam (Studienleistung). Proof of active participation: Lecture Notes with complete weekly assignments (translations), to be submitted in writing by the end of the semester. Literatur see -Kommentar- and library reserve shelf. see -Kommentar- and library reserve shelf. FB 02 Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik Uni Kassel WiSe 2015/16 Anglistik/Englisch Prof. i.R. Nöth Winfried i.R