The Oxford History of English

by Mugglestone, Lynda

• ISBN13: 9780199249312
• ISBN10: 0199249318
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

"The Oxford History of English traces the language from its obscure Indo-European roots to its position as the world's first language. In accounts made vivid with examples from an immense range of documentary evidence, including letters, diaries, and private records, fifteen experts describe the history of English in its versions, written and spoken. They reveal the language's rich and protean variety over the centuries and chart the progress of all its versions, standard, regional, and international. They describe and explain its constantly changing sounds, words, meanings, and grammar."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Lynda Mugglestone is News International Lecturer in Language and Communication, University of Oxford and Fellow in English Language and Literature, Pembroke College, Oxford.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
List of Abbreviations	ix
Key to Phonetic Symbols	x
Introduction: A History of English	1	(6)
Lynda Mugglestone
Preliminaries: Before English	7	(25)
Terry Hoad
Beginnings and Transitions: Old English	32	(29)
Susan Irvine
Contacts and Conflicts: Latin, Norse, and French	61	(25)
Matthew Townend
Middle English---Dialects and Diversity	86	(34)
Marilyn Corrie
From Middle to Early Modern English	120	(27)
Jeremy J. Smith
Restructuring Renaissance English	147	(31)
April McMahon
Mapping Change in Tudor English	178	(34)
Terttu Nevalainen
The Babel of Renaissance English	212	(28)
Paula Blank
English at the Onset of the Normative Tradition	240	(34)
Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade
English in the Nineteenth Century	274	(31)
Lynda Mugglestone
Modern Regional English in the British Isles	305	(29)
Clive Upton
English Among the Languages	334	(26)
Richard W. Bailey
English World-wide in the Twentieth Century	360	(34)
Tom McArthur
Into the Twenty-first Century	394	(21)
David Crystal
A Chronology of English	415	(14)
Notes on Contributors	429	(3)
Acknowledgements	432	(1)
References	433	(40)
Index	473