The Cambridge History of the English Language – serie

The Cambridge History of the English Language is the first multi-volume work to provide a full account of the history of English. Its authoritative coverage extends from areas of central linguistic interest and concern to more specialised topics such as personal and place names. The volumes dealing with earlier periods are chronologically based, whilst those dealing with more recent periods are geographically based, thus reflecting the spread of English over the last 300 years. Volume 1 deals with the history of English up to the Norman Conquest, and contains chapters on Indo-European and Germanic, phonology and morphology, syntax, semantics and vocabulary, dialectology, onomastics, and literary language. Each chapter, as well as giving a chronologically-oriented presentation of the data, surveys scholarship in the area and takes full account of the impact of developing and current linguistic theory on the interpretation of the data. The chapters have been written with both specialists and non-specialists in mind; they will be essential reading for all those interested in the history of English.

The Cambridge History of the English Language is the first multi-volume work to provide a comprehensive and authoritative account of the history of English from its beginnings to its present-day worldwide use. Volume 2 deals with the Middle English period, approximately 1066-1476, and describes and analyses developments in the language from the Norman Conquest to the introduction of printing. This period witnessed important features like the assimilation of French and the emergence of a standard variety of English. There are chapters on phonology and morphology, syntax, dialectology, lexis and semantics, literary language, and onomastics. Each chapter concludes with a section on further reading; and the volume as a whole is supported by an extensive glossary of linguistic terms and a comprehensive bibliography. The chapters are written by specialists who are familiar with modern approaches to the study of historical linguistics.

This volume of the Cambridge History of the English Language covers the period 1476-1776, beginning at the time of the establishment of Caxton's first press in England and concluding with the American Declaration of Independence, the notional birth of the first (non-insular) extraterritorial English. It encompasses three centuries which saw immense cultural change over the whole of Europe: the late middle ages, the renaissance, the reformation, the enlightenment, and the beginnings of romanticism. During this time, Middle English became Early Modern English and then developed into the early stages of indisputably 'modern', if somewhat old-fashioned, English. In this book, the distinguished team of six contributors traces these developments, covering orthography and punctuation, phonology and morphology, syntax, lexis and semantics, regional and social variation, and the literary language. The volume also contains a glossary of linguistic terms and an extensive bibliography.

This volume deals with the history of the English language from 1776 to 1997. An extensive introduction details the changing socio-historical setting in which English has developed in response to a continuing background of diversity as it was transplanted to North America and beyond. Separate chapters on phonology, syntax, and vocabulary chronicle the linguistic features of the language during this period, taking as the basis for discussion the common core inherited from the sixteenth century and shared by what are now the two principal varieties, American and British English. In addition, there are chapters on English as a literary language, English grammar and usage, and onomastics. A separate volume on North American English is in preparation.

The Cambridge History of the English Language is the first multi-volume work to provide a full account of the history of English. Its authoritative coverage extends from areas of central linguistic interest and concern to more specialised topics such as personal names and place names. The volumes dealing with earlier periods are chronologically based, whilst those dealing with more recent periods are geographically based, thus reflecting the spread of English over the last 300 years. Volume 5 looks at the dialects of England since 1776, the historical development of English in the former Celtic-speaking countries of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and at varieties of English in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia. This unique volume will be welcomed by all those interested in the spread of English around the world.