Full Description
The English Language: A Linguistic History surveys the development of the English language from its Indo-European past to the present day. It covers the entire history of the English language beginning with its prehistoric origins in Proto-Indo-European and includes thorough coverage of its four major periods: Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Modern English.
The third edition features enhanced discussion of the socio-historical and cultural contexts of the English language in the new "Language in Context" features in each chapter. Brief timelines of historical events also now appear at the beginning of relevant chapters, supplementing the comprehensive timeline (linguistic, literary, historical, and social) found in the appendices. Discussion of new approaches to the history of English, such as historical pragmatics and historical sociolinguistics, have been added or expanded along with new debates, such as the current work on the Proto-Indo-Europeans or the status of English as a global language or second language. A new appendix includes an anthology of specimen texts from the four major periods of English, chosen for their use of colloquial and non-literary language.
Contents
Preface
Abbreviations
1. Studying the History of English
Why Study the History of English?
A Definition of Language
The Components of Language
Linguistic Change in English
The Nature of Linguistic Change
The Origin of Language
Attitudes toward Linguistic Change
Resources for Studying the History of English
2. Sounds and Sound Change in English
The Sounds of English
Sound Change
The Writing of English
3. Causes and Mechanisms of Language Change
Causes of Change
Morphological and Syntactic Change
Semantic Change
Pragmatic Change
4. The Indo-European Language Family and Proto-Indo-European
Classification of Languages
Language Families
The Indo-European Language Family
Proto-Language
Reconstruction
Proto-Indo-European
5. Germanic and the Development of Old English
Proto-Germanic
Grammatical and Lexical Changes from PIE to Germanic
Phonological Changes from PIE to Germanic
A Brief History of Anglo-Saxon England
The Records of the Anglo-Saxons
6. The Words and Sounds of Old English
The Word Stock of the Anglo-Saxons
The Orthographic System of Old English
The Phonological System of Old English
Stress
A Closer Look at the Language of an Old English Text
7. The Grammar of Old English
The Nominal System
The Verbal System
Syntax
A Closer Look at the Language of an Old English Text
8. The Rise of Middle English: Words and Sounds
French and English in Medieval England
The Word Stock of Middle English
The Written Records of Middle English
Orthographic Changes
Consonant Changes
Vowel Changes
A Closer Look at the Language of a Middle English Text
9. The Grammar of Middle English and Rise of a Written Standard
The Effects of Vowel Reduction
Grammatical Developments in Middle English
Comparison of a Middle English and an Old English Text
Change from Synthetic to Analytic
Middle English as a Creole?
The Rise of a Standard Dialect
A Closer Look at the Language of a Middle English Text
10. The Words, Sounds, and Inflections of Early Modern English
Early Modern English Vocabulary
The Great Vowel Shift
Changes in the Short Vowels and Diphthongs
A Closer Look at the Language of an Early Modern English Text
Changes in Consonants
Renaissance Respellings
Changes in Nominal Inflected Forms
Case Usage
Changes in Verbal Inflected Forms
A Closer Look at the Language of an Early Modern English Text
11. Early Modern English Verbal Constructions and Eighteenth-Century Prescriptivism
Early Modern English Syntax
Late Modern English and the Rise of Prescriptivism
Aims of the Eighteenth-Century Grammarians
Methods of the Eighteenth-Century Grammarians
The Question of Usage
Dictionaries
12. Modern English
Grammatical and Lexical Changes in Late Modern English
Changes in Progress
The Effect of New Media on English
13. Varieties of English
The Development of National Varieties
Important Regional Varieties of the British Isles
English as a Global Language
Appendix A: Quick Reference Guide
Appendix B: Timeline of Significant Historical, Social, Literary, and Linguistic Events in the History of English
Appendix C: Anthology of Readings (NEW)
Exercise Key
Glossary of Linguistic Terms
Works Cited
Index
