Read by Prof. Chris Fee, Ph.D

The history of a language is the history of the people who speak it, those who read and write it, and those who come into contact with it. Now, this series invites you to explore your heritage from an unconventional angle: through the origin and development of the English language. Leading your expedition is Christopher R. Fee, an award-winning professor and medievalist whose expertise spans Old English, Old Norse, and historical linguistics. With flair and gusto, he draws from this well of knowledge to help you trace the evolution of English across a fascinating range of cultures. In liberal arts fashion, this series of 24 lectures mixes the study of technical subjects (like phonetics, linguistics, and historical grammar) with more abstract cultural issues, such as the impact of the Norman Invasion on Old English, the advent of the printing press, the place of Ebonics in the modern public school curriculum, how English became a world language, and how close the Vikings came to ensuring that this course might have been about Danish instead of English. Prof. Fee has a knack for spinning the wildest yarns out of the most threadbare of events. Expect to enjoy his account of the characters "worthy of a seamy soap opera" tasked with writing a dictionary. Language is a cornerstone-arguably the very foundation-of human culture. It is a vital part of who we are and a subject invaluable to anyone interested in the humanities

Mode of access: World Wide Web