English - One Tongue, Many Voices

by Svartvik, Jan; Leech, Geoffrey

• ISBN13: 9781403918307
• ISBN10: 1403918309
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-12
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This readable textbook tells the fascinating story of the English language in three ways. It begins by tracing the history of the language from its obscure beginnings over 1500 years ago and follows up by showing the geographical spread of the language and its increasing diversity. Finally, it looks at the present state of English as a global language and problems and uncertainties of its future.Students interested in the history of the English language will be well-served by this valuable introduction.

Author Biography

JAN SVARTVIK is a most respected Scandinavian scholar of English Language and is now Emeritus Professor at the University of Lund, Sweden. He is co-author of Engelsk universitetsgrammatik (with Olof Sager, 1977) and Handbok i engelska (with Rikard Svartvik, 2001), and author, co-author or editor of some 35 books and 75 papers or articles on varied aspects of English linguistics, contrastive grammar and nautical terminology. He is a Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, The Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and Academia Europaea.

GEOFFREY LEECH is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Lancaster University, UK. Author, co-author, or co-editor of 25 books and 100 papers or articles on varied aspects of linguistics and the English language, he is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of Academia Europaea. He is co-author with Margaret Deuchar and Robert Hoogenraad of English Grammar for Today: A New Introduction (Palgrave Macmillan, 1982, second edition 2005).

Table of Contents

Preface * The Working Tongue of the Global Village * PART 1: HISTORY OF AN ISLAND LANGUAGE * The First 500 Years * 1066 and All That * Modern English in the Making * PART 2: THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH AROUND THE WORLD * English Goes to the New World * English Transplanted * English Varieties in the British Isles * American and British English * From Caribbean English to Creole * PART 3: A CHANGING LANGUAGE IN CHANGING TIMES * The Standard Language Today * Linguistic Change in Progress: Back to the Inner Circle * English into the Future * Pronunciation * Notes: Comments and References * References * Index