Changing English

by Graddol; David

• ISBN13: 9780415376693
• ISBN10: 0415376696
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-11
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Changing English examines the history of English from its origins in the fifth century to the present day. It focuses on the radical changes that have taken place in the structure of English over a millennium and a half, detailing the influences of migration, colonialism and many other historical, social and cultural phenomena. Expert authors illustrate and analyze dialects, accents and the shifting styles of individual speakers as they respond to changing circumstances. The reader is introduced to many key debates relating to the English language, illustrated by specific examples of data in context. Including key material retained from the earlier bestselling book, English: History, Diversity and Change , this new book has been thoroughly reorganised and updated with entirely new material. Changing English : explains basic concepts, easily located through a comprehensive index includes contributions by experts in the field, such asDavid Crystal, David Graddol, Dick Leith, Lynda Mugglestone and Joan Swann contains a range of source material and commissioned readings to supplement chapters. Changing English makes an essential contribution to the field of English language studies.

Table of Contents

Preface to the series	p. i
Biographical information	p. ii
Introduction	p. 1
English voices	p. 5
Introduction	p. 5
What counts as English?	p. 5
Who speaks English?	p. 11
When, and when not, to speak English	p. 15
Responding to diversity	p. 26
Conclusion	p. 28
The English language today	p. 29
Franglais	p. 33
The origins of English	p. 39
Introduction	p. 39
The linguistic background to the emergence of English	p. 40
The early Old English period: problems of interpretation	p. 42
An example of Old English	p. 50
The late Old English period	p. 59
The transition to Middle English	p. 64
Examples of Middle English	p. 67
English in the later Middle Ages	p. 70
Conclusion	p. 73
The Celtic language puzzle	p. 74
Modernity and English as a national language	p. 79
Introduction	p. 79
Modernity and the rise of a national language	p. 79
Selection: Caxton and the consequences of printing	p. 85
Elaboration	p. 87
Codification	p. 98
Implementation	p. 106
Dialect speech and the discourse of democracy	p. 110
Conclusion	p. 112
Caxton on dialects	p. 113
English - colonial to postcolonial	p. 117
Introduction	p. 117
The colonial experience	p. 117
The spread of English within the British Isles	p. 125
The spread of English beyond the British Isles	p. 133
Conclusion	p. 147
Identifying Nigerian usages in Nigerian English	p. 149
Accent as social symbol	p. 153
Introduction	p. 153
The consciousness of correctness	p. 154
'Want of method'	p. 157
An educated accent	p. 158
Received Pronunciation	p. 162
The broadcast voice	p. 165
Contesting voices	p. 167
The changing situation of modern Britain	p. 169
Accent evaluation revisited	p. 174
Conclusion	p. 178
Milton Keynes and dialect levelling in south-eastern British English	p. 179
Dialect variation in English	p. 189
Introduction	p. 189
Standard Englishes	p. 190
Standard attitudes	p. 192
Variety and 'macro' social factors: class, gender and age	p. 194
Variety and 'micro' factors: social networks	p. 200
A core of English and dialect levelling	p. 202
Traditional dialects	p. 204
New-dialect formation	p. 205
Grammatical variety	p. 208
Conclusion	p. 220
Singlish and Standard Singaporean English	p. 222
Modals on Tyneside	p. 224
Style shifting, codeswitching	p. 227
Introduction	p. 227
Stylistic variation in English	p. 228
Switching in and out of English	p. 242
Designer English?	p. 250
Conclusion	p. 254
Hark, Hark the Lark: multiple voicing in DJ talk	p. 256
Codeswitching with English: types of switching, types of communities	p. 263
References	p. 269
Acknowledgements	p. 281
Index	p. 283
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