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Abstract
City University of New York students come from such varied backgrounds that it often seems the English language is the only thing they have in common. This article discusses how a course in the history of English can provide stories with which all such students can identify. The focus is on English speakers through the ages, considered in three main phases: European, Neo-European, and Non-European. The European begins with the ancient Germans and tells how some of them became the English, eventually achieving political dominance in Britain and a strong literary culture; but it also includes stories of subordinated working class and Celtic people. The Neo-European covers English-speaking expansion in North America and Australasia, emphasizing how diverse ordinary people developed new communities and new forms of speech. The Non-European includes indigenous peoples of the Neo-Europes, immigrants who came to the Americas under coercion from Africa, and peoples of the Anglophone colonies of exploitation. All these had to come to terms with English as a language of both oppression and opportunity – as do their modern successors, including our students. This course is designed to help them do so, while helping more “traditional” students understand the linguistic dilemmas their fellow citizens face.
Acknowledgements
This article is the product of teaching the History of the English Language at Hunter College of the City University of New York. I wish to thank the many generations of students who have taken the course with me and have read and commented on the chapters of my book English Speakers. I am also grateful to my colleagues in the Department of English at Hunter College for supporting me as I do this work.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.