The History of English: A Student's Guide

by Ishtla Singh;

• ISBN13: 9780340806951
• ISBN10: 0340806958
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The History of English provides an accessible introduction to the changes that English has undergone from its Indo-European beginnings to the present day. The text looks at the major periods in the history of English, and provides for each a socio-historical context and an overview of the relevant major linguistic changes. This text is especially useful for students of literature as well as linguistics.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
List of Tables	ix
List of Symbols and Conventions	xi
Acknowledgements	xiii
Introduction	1	(4)
1. English as a Changing Language	5	(34)
1.1 Introduction	5	(1)
1.2 Sound Change	6	(3)
1.3 Lexical Change	9	(10)
1.4 Semantic Change	19	(5)
1.5 Morphological Change	24	(6)
1.6 Syntactic Change	30	(6)
1.7 Study Questions	36	(3)
2. Language Families and the Pre-history of English	39	(27)
2.1 Introduction	39	(2)
2.2 The Roots of English and Proto-Indo-European	41	(11)
2.3 Meeting the Ancestors I	52	(7)
2.4 Meeting the Ancestors II	59	(5)
2.5 Study Questions	64	(2)
3. Old English, 500-1100	66	(37)
3.1 Introduction	66	(1)
3.2 Social History	67	(6)
3.3 Anglo-Saxon Literature	73	(2)
3.4 The Language of Old English	75	(17)
3.5 Doing Anglo-Saxon Gender: Heroic Men and Monstrous Women	92	(8)
3.6 Study Questions	100	(3)
4. Middle English, 1100-1500	103	(36)
4.1 Introduction	103	(1)
4.2 Social History	104	(8)
4.3 Middle English Literature	112	(1)
4.4 The Language of Middle English	113	(14)
4.5 Contact and Change: Middle English Creolization?	127	(9)
4.6 Study Questions	136	(3)
5. Early Modern English, 1500-1700	139	(35)
5.1 Introduction	139	(1)
5.2 Social History	140	(7)
5.3 Early Modern English Literature	147	(1)
5.4 The Language of Early Modern English	148	(19)
5.5 Contact and Change: English in Barbados	167	(6)
5.6 Study Questions	173	(1)
6. Modern English, 1700 onwards	174	(33)
6.1 Introduction	174	(3)
6.2 The Eighteenth Century and the Rise of the Prescriptive Tradition	177	(11)
6.3 Nineteenth-Century Contact and Change: The Case of Singlish	188	(10)
6.4 The Twenty-First Century and Beyond: Where Will English Boldly Go?	198	(4)
6.5 Conclusion	202	(1)
6.6 Study Questions	203	(4)
Bibliography	207	(8)
Index	215