Landmarks in the History of the English Language

Landmarks in the History of the English Language identifies twelve key landmarks spread throughout the language's history to provide a lively and interesting introduction to the history of English.

Autorentext

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.

Klappentext

Landmarks in the History of the English Language identifies twelve key landmarks spread throughout the language's history to provide a lively and interesting introduction to the history of English.

Inhalt

Preface

1. English: the Ancestral Trail
   William Jones and the Indo-European family of languages

2. Putting English on the Map
   Alfred the Great and the establishment of English

Interlude 1 What OE was like: the nun, the devil, and a lettuce

3. Simplifying English
   Samuel Moore and the case of the disappearing inflections

4. Standardising written English
   Henry V and Chancery English

Interlude 2 What ME was like: a gat-toothed wife

5. Enriching English
   Thomas Elyot, Thomas Wilson and a proliferation of new words

6. 'Worshipping the English'
   Richard Mulcaster and his Elementarie

Interlude 3 What EModE was like: hands red with blood

7. Fixing the language
   Samuel Johnson and his Dictionary

8. Crossing the Atlantic
   Noah Webster and American English

9. Going beyond the Standard
   William Barnes and the Dorset dialect

10. A 'dictionary of all English'
    James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary

11. The spread of English
    Braj Kachru and his concentric circles

12. What next?
    David Crystal and the future of English

Index