The English language in its complex shapes and forms changes fast. This thoroughly revised edition has been refreshed with current examples of change and has been updated regarding archeological research. Most suggestions brought up by users and reviewers have been incorporated, for instance, a family tree for Germanic has been added, Celtic influence is highlighted much more, there is more on the origin of Chancery English, and internal and external change are discussed in much greater detail. The philosophy of the revised book remains the same with an emphasis on the linguistic history and on using authentic texts. My audience remains undergraduates (and beginning graduates). The goals of the class and the book are to come to recognize English from various time periods, to be able to read each stage with a glossary, to get an understanding of typical language change, internal and external, and to understand something about language typology through the emphasis on the change from synthetic to analytic.
This book has a companion website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1075/z.183.website
Author(s): Elly van Gelderen
Edition: Revised edition
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 338
A History of the English Language
Title page
LCC data
Table of contents
Preface to the first edition (2006)
Preface to the revised edition
Notes to the user and abbreviations
List of tables
List of figures
1 The English language
1. The origins and history of English
2. Modern English compared to earlier English and other languages
3. External and internal change
4. Conclusion
Keywords
Topics for class discussion and exercises
2. English spelling, sounds, and grammar
1. English spelling
2. Why English spelling is irregular
3. The phonetic alphabet
4. Phonetics and sound change
5. Some grammatical terminology
6. Conclusion
Keywords
Exercises
3. Before Old English
1. Origins of language
2. Earliest writings
3. Indo-European to Germanic: Sound changes
4. Indo-European to Germanic: Changes in morphology and syntax
5. Reconstruction methods
6. Politics and reconstruction
7. Conclusion
Keywords
Exercises
4. Old English: 450-1150
1. Sources and spelling
2. Old English sounds
3. Old English grammar
4. Old English morphology
5. Old English syntax
6. The Old English lexicon
7. Old English dialects
8. Conclusion
Keywords
Exercises
Appendix A. Anglo Saxon Chronicle - Peterborough version
Appendix B. Two versions of Caedmon’s Hymn
Appendix C. Orosius
Appendix D. Riddles
Appendix E. Wulf and Eadwacer
Appendix F. The Wanderer
5. From Old to Middle English
1. Celtic loans
2. Latin loans
3. Scandinavian influence
4. French influence
5. Other languages
6. The result: A lexicon of multiple origins
7. Implications for the status of Middle English
8. Conclusion
Key concepts
Exercises and review questions
6. Middle English: 1150-1500
1. Texts and spelling
2. Middle English sounds
3. Middle English morphology
4. Middle English syntax
5. Middle English word formation
6. Middle English dialects
7. Conclusion
Keywords
Exercises
Appendix A. Layamon
Appendix B. Piers Plowman
Appendix C. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Appendix D. Chaucer
Appendix E. Anonymous lyrics
Appendix F. Paston Letters
7. Early Modern English: 1500-1700
1. Printing, literacy, and texts
2. Early Modern English spelling and sounds
3. Early Modern English morphology
4. Early Modern English syntax
5. The Early Modern English lexicon
6. Attitudes towards a standard
7. Regional and register varieties
8. Editorial and authorship issues
9. Conclusion
Keywords and terms
Exercises
Appendix A. Elizabeth’s translation of Boethius compared to others
Appendix B. Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Appendix C. Alexander Hume on orthography
Appendix D. Dorothy Osborne’s letters
Appendix E. Isaac Newton on optics
8. Modern English: 1700-the present
1. External history and sources
2. Modern English spelling and sounds
3. Modern English morphology
4. Modern English syntax
5. The Modern English lexicon
6. Attitudes towards linguistic differences
7. Some regional and register varieties
8. Conclusion
Keywords
Exercises
Appendix A. A Petition to the Merchants, Clothiers and all such
Appendix B. Mary Wollstonecraft on education
Appendix C. George Washington’s journal
Appendix D. D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Appendix E. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were watching God
9. English around the world
1. External history and sources
2. Spelling and sounds
3. Grammar
4. The lexicons of the World Englishes
5. English-influenced pidgins and creoles
6. Consequences of the spread of English
7. Conclusion
Keywords
Exercises
Appendix A. Caribbean English
Appendix B. South Asian English
Appendix C. West African English
Appendix D. Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Tok Pisin, a creole
10. Conclusion
1. From Old English to the present
2. Theories of language change
3. The linguistic cycle: Synthetic to analytic to synthetic again?
4. Some theories about language
5. Resources
6. Conclusion
Excerpts from texts
Practical projects
Paper projects
Appendix I. Possible answers to the exercises and some additional information on in-text questions
Appendix II. How to use the OED
Appendix III. Chronology of historical events
References
Index
