A History of English, first published in 1970, is a book for beginners in linguistic history. This title examines the changes in English language speech and writing over a period of almost 2000 years, whilst also exploring more recent changes within the author’s living memory. This title aims to raise countless issues for enquiry and discussion, and its purpose is to serve as a springboard for language history learning rather than a textbook.

This volume, first published in 1988, represents in its papers the wide-ranging yet coherent linguistic interests of the late Barbara Strang (1925-1982). For her, the history of English and its current state were two sides of the same coin, and the principle theme of this collection is that neither one may be properly understood without invoking the other. It is a 'real-data' collection, in that its contributors share the view that the facts of language, patiently gathered, recorded and collated, must govern the theory within which they are described, and not vice versa. This philosophy may be seen to operate in all the contributions, and to result in a truly three-dimensional picture of English: data; distribution (temporal, geographical, situational and social); and description. This book will be of interest to students of English language and linguistics.

The volumes of The Cambridge history of the English language reflect the spread of English from its beginnings in Anglo-Saxon England to its current role as a multifaceted global language that dominates international communication in the 21st century.

This ambitious handbook takes advantage of recent advances in the study of the history of English to rethink the understanding of the field.

The History of English: An Introduction provides a chronological analysis of the linguistic, social, and cultural development of the English language from before its establishment in Britain around the year 450 to the present. Each chapter represents a new stage in the evolution of the language, all illustrated with a rich and diverse selection of primary texts. The book also explores the wider global course of the language, including a historical review of English in its pidgin and creole varieties and as a native and/or second language in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. The third edition, carefully revised and updated throughout, includes: ● chapter introductions and conclusions to assist in orientation plus additional marginal references throughout; ● the addition of 21 timelines often running from Old English to Present-Day English and focusing on a variety of features; ● a new focus on the relevance of change for and in Present-Day English; ● discussions on the role and image of women, the (in-)visibility of social classes, and regional variation in English; ● material on bilingualism, code-switching, and borrowing, and on the effects of the social media on language use; ● over 90 textual examples demonstrating linguistic change and over 100 figures, tables, and maps, including 31 colour images, to support and illuminate the text; ● updated online support material including brief introductions to Old and to Middle English, further articles on linguistic, historical, and cultural phenomena which go beyond the scope of the book, additional sample texts, exercises, and audio clips. With study questions as well as recommendations for further reading and topics for further study, The History of English is essential reading for any student of the English language and will be of relevance to any course addressing the origins and development of the English language.

What is a history of the English language? To a native speaker, the answer to this question might seem obvious; the story, from beginning to end, of the language that we use every day. But a history of the English language raises the prickly question of what one means by English. Who speaks “true” English, and are these speakers British, American, Scottish, or Australian, or something else entirely? Is the history of English the history of a written language, or must such an inquiry contend with the divergent dialects and accents of English speakers around the world? In A History of the English Language, N. F. Blake abandons the traditional framework that divides history into three major periods: Old English, Middle English, and Modern English, arguing that these periods were originally chosen because of their political, as opposed to linguistic, significance. Dating the emergence of the ideal of a unified English language to the reign of King Alfred, Blake illustrates the way in which, since its origin, the concept of English has been largely a political and educational one. Detailing the influence that many parent languages — West Saxon, Latin, and French, to name a few, had on the emerging tongue, Blake brings insight into the dynamic role that other languages continue to play in shaping English.