The English LanguageThis bestselling text by Charles Barber, with updating contributions from Joan C. Beal and Philip A. Shaw, recounts the history of the English language from its remote ancestry to the present day. Using dozens of familiar texts, including the English of King Alfred, Shakespeare and Chaucer, the English language is explored in terms of where it came from, where it is going and the global impact it has had, taking into account the many varieties of English that now exist. Stimulating and interesting, it is not only written for specialists on language and linguistics, but also for general readers who take an interest in the subject. |
Contents
| 1 | |
The flux of language | 31 |
The IndoEuropean languages | 57 |
The Germanic languages | 85 |
Old English | 105 |
Norsemen and Normans | 137 |
Middle English | 161 |
Early Modern English | 185 |
Other editions - View all
The English Language: A Historical Introduction Charles Barber,Joan C. Beal,Philip A. Shaw Limited preview - 2009 |
The English Language: A Historical Introduction Charles Barber,Joan C. Beal,Philip A. Shaw No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
accent adjectives Africa allophones Anglo-Saxon areas auxiliary ɑː became borrowed British English called common consonant corresponding creoles Danelaw developed dialect diphthong Early Modern English East Midland England English word especially example French fricatives front mutation Germanic languages glottochronology Gothic grammar Greek groups guage Indo-European languages inflections influence large numbers late Latin lengthening linguistic literary language loans loanwords meaning Middle English Midlands modern period morphemes normal northern noun Old English Old Norse originally ɔː passage phoneme phonology pidgin plural present-day English pronounced pronunciation Proto-Germanic Proto-Indo-European Received Pronunciation regional Sanskrit Scandinavian Scots seen sentence seventeenth century Shakespeare’s short vowels singular sixteenth century sound southern speakers speech spelling spoken Standard English stress syllable symbols tense texts thou tion tongue unstressed usage variant varieties of English verb Vikings vocabulary voiceless West Saxon word-order þæt