We meet MWF, 12:20 pm– 1:10 pm in South College W201. (Campus Map.)

WEEK 2 Phonology & Closed-Class Words

M 9 Sept.

• Read BAKER, chapter 2 "Pronunciation." [No book? Mitchell, Guide, pp. 11 - 13] [Also in Sweet (hereafter SW) Primer, pages 7–18, Pronouncing Old English]
• Read BAKER Appendix B (Phonetic Symbols and Terms)
• King Alfred's Grammar (hereafter kA), chs. 1-4 and "Pronouncing Old English"
• You can browse Professor Murray McGillivray's site--he has a sound file of Abraham and Isaac, read in Old English here. Also, Mike Drout has read the entire poetic corpus of OE onto the web (and podcast); that's here.

 

W 11 Sept.

• Read BAKER, chapter 3 "Basic Grammar." [No book? 2nd edition online for free; or Mitchell, Guide, pp. 14 - 19]
• Parts of Speech handout here.
• If we have time, BAKER, chapter 4, "Cases."

 

F 13 Sept.

• Read BAKER, chapter 4, "Cases." 2nd edition online for free
• Read BAKER, chapter 5, "Pronouns."
• Personal pronouns.
• Try Old English Aerobics, "Workout Room" sections 2, 4, and 5.
• Try some exercises in OE. 1a, 1b, 1d and section 2.
• Make some charts (e.g., in notes).
• In class: SW Primer, Text 4, sentences from the Chronicle.
• Start memorizing OE vocabulary! A second page!
• Review material: Thijs Porck on cases and gender.

---

Useful Background Reading:

Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (hereafter CC), ch. 2, Helmut Gneuss, "The Old English Language"; chapter 1, Patrick Wormald, "Anglo-Saxon Society and its Literature."

If you like, read Graham Robb on 19th-century France.