Keith Johnson is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Language Education at Lancaster University, UK. He is author of The History of Early English and The History of Late Modern Englishes, both published by Routledge.

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• Preface1. English: the Ancestral TrailWilliam Jones and the Indo-European family of languages2. Putting English on the MapAlfred the Great and the establishment of EnglishInterlude 1 What OE was like: the nun, the devil, and a lettuce3. Simplifying EnglishSamuel Moore and the case of the disappearing inflections4. Standardising written EnglishHenry V and Chancery EnglishInterlude 2 What ME was like: a gat-toothed wife5. Enriching EnglishThomas Elyot, Thomas Wilson and a proliferation of new words6. ‘Worshipping the English’Richard Mulcaster and his ElementarieInterlude 3 What EModE was like: hands red with blood7. Fixing the languageSamuel Johnson and his Dictionary8. Crossing the AtlanticNoah Webster and American English9. Going beyond the StandardWilliam Barnes and the Dorset dialect10. A ‘dictionary of all English’James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary11. The spread of EnglishBraj Kachru and his concentric circles12. What next? David Crystal and the future of EnglishIndex

Keith Johnson is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Language Education at Lancaster University, UK. He is author of The History of Early English and The History of Late Modern Englishes, both published by Routledge.

Select Guide Rating

• Preface1. English: the Ancestral TrailWilliam Jones and the Indo-European family of languages2. Putting English on the MapAlfred the Great and the establishment of EnglishInterlude 1 What OE was like: the nun, the devil, and a lettuce3. Simplifying EnglishSamuel Moore and the case of the disappearing inflections4. Standardising written EnglishHenry V and Chancery EnglishInterlude 2 What ME was like: a gat-toothed wife5. Enriching EnglishThomas Elyot, Thomas Wilson and a proliferation of new words6. ‘Worshipping the English’Richard Mulcaster and his ElementarieInterlude 3 What EModE was like: hands red with blood7. Fixing the languageSamuel Johnson and his Dictionary8. Crossing the AtlanticNoah Webster and American English9. Going beyond the StandardWilliam Barnes and the Dorset dialect10. A ‘dictionary of all English’James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary11. The spread of EnglishBraj Kachru and his concentric circles12. What next? David Crystal and the future of EnglishIndex