HENK03612U Engelsk - Frit emne: Early Modern English

Caxton’s introduction of printing into England in 1476 and Johnson’s publication of his Dictionary in 1755 mark two convenient reference points with which to delimit the Early Modern English period. From a linguistic point of view, this period is characterized by a complex interplay of flux and standardization in terms of both grammar and orthography; from a literary point of view, it is the era whose central achievements include the King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare. This course outlines the principal linguistic changes that English underwent from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, and it does so with a particular emphasis on training students’ practical reading skills of Early Modern English texts.