Laurel J. Brinton and Leslie K. Arnovick
Preface
Abbreviations
1. Studying the History of English
Why Study the History of English?
A Definition of Language
The Components of Language
Linguistic Change in English
The Nature of Linguistic Change
The Origin of Language
Attitudes toward Linguistic
Change
Resources for Studying the History of English
2. Sounds and Sound Change in English
The Sounds of English
Sound Change
The Writing of English
3. Causes and Mechanisms of Language Change
Causes of Change
Morphological and Syntactic
Change
Semantic Change
Pragmatic Change
4. The Indo-European Language Family and Proto-Indo-European
Classification of Languages
Language Families
The Indo-European Language Family
Proto-Language
Reconstruction
Proto-Indo-European
5. Germanic and the
Development of Old English
Proto-Germanic
Grammatical and Lexical Changes from PIE to Germanic
Phonological Changes from PIE to Germanic
A Brief History of Anglo-Saxon England
The Records of the Anglo-Saxons
6. The Words and Sounds of Old English
The Word Stock
of the Anglo-Saxons
The Orthographic System of Old English
The Phonological System of Old English
Stress
A Closer Look at the Language of an Old English Text
7. The Grammar of Old English
The Nominal System
The Verbal System
Syntax
A Closer Look at the
Language of an Old English Text
8. The Rise of Middle English: Words and Sounds
French and English in Medieval England
The Word Stock of Middle English
The Written Records of Middle English
Orthographic Changes
Consonant Changes
Vowel Changes
A Closer Look at
the Language of a Middle English Text
9. The Grammar of Middle English and Rise of a Written Standard
The Effects of Vowel Reduction
Grammatical Developments in Middle English
Comparison of a Middle English and an Old English Text
Change from Synthetic to
Analytic
Middle English as a Creole?
The Rise of a Standard Dialect
A Closer Look at the Language of a Middle English Text
10. The Words, Sounds, and Inflections of Early Modern English
Early Modern English Vocabulary
The Great Vowel Shift
Changes in the Short
Vowels and Diphthongs
A Closer Look at the Language of an Early Modern English Text
Changes in Consonants
Renaissance Respellings
Changes in Nominal Inflected Forms
Case Usage
Changes in Verbal Inflected Forms
A Closer Look at the Language of an Early Modern English
Text
11. Early Modern English Verbal Constructions and Eighteenth-Century Prescriptivism
Early Modern English Syntax
Late Modern English and the Rise of Prescriptivism
Aims of the Eighteenth-Century Grammarians
Methods of the Eighteenth-Century Grammarians
The Question
of Usage
Dictionaries
12. Modern English
Grammatical and Lexical Changes in Late Modern English
Changes in Progress
The Effect of New Media on English
13. Varieties of English
The Development of National Varieties
Important Regional Varieties of the
British Isles
English as a Global Language
Appendix A: Quick Reference Guide
Appendix B: Timeline of Significant Historical, Social, Literary, and Linguistic Events in the History of English
Appendix C: Anthology of Readings (NEW)
Exercise Key
Glossary of Linguistic
Terms
Works Cited
Index
Instructor's Resources:
Sample syllabi
- Full-year
- 16-week
- 10-week: general, medieval, modern
Student Resources:
Tutorials on using OED online
List of recommended websites, readings, blogs, and videos
Self-test exercises with answers
16 audio
recordings of Old, Middle, and Early Modern English literary texts
E-Book (ISBN 9780199019168)
Laurel J. Brinton specializes in English language studies, with particular interest in grammaticalization and historical pragmatics. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California. In addition to co-authoring The English Language: A Linguistic History, she has co-edited the
two-volume English Historical Linguistics: An International Handbook (Mouton) and is the co-editor of English Language and Linguistics (Cambridge University Press).
Leslie K. Arnovick specializes in English language studies, with particular interest in historical pragmatics. She received
her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to co-authoring The English Language: A Linguistic History, she has also written several monographs profiling Medieval English and diachronic pragmatics.
Making Sense - Margot Northey
The Oxford History of English - Edited by Lynda Mugglestone