CONTENTS
List of Maps and Figures = xii
Acknowledgements = xiii
1 Introduction = 1
1.1 The Time Periods of English = 1
1.2 Language Change = 3
1.3 Sources of Information on Language Change = 7
1.4 Linguistic Preliminaries = 9
1.5 The Sounds of English, and Symbols Used to Describe Them = 11
1.5.1 Consonants = 11
1.5.2 Vowels = 12
1.5.2.1 Monophthongs = 12
1.5.2.2 Diphthongs = 12
1.6 Structure of the Book = 13
2 The Pre-history of English = 15
Timeline : The Indo-European Period = 15
2.1 The Indo-European Languages and Linguistic Relatedness = 17
2.1.1 The Beginnings = 17
2.1.2 The Development of Historical Linguistics = 18
2.1.3 Genetic Relatedness = 19
2.2 Linguistic Developments : The Indo-European Language Family = 23
2.2.1 Family-Tree Relationships = 23
2.2.2 The Indo-European Family = 23
2.2.2.1 Indo-Iranian = 25
2.2.2.2 Armenian = 26
2.2.2.3 Albanian = 26
2.2.2.4 Balto-Slavonic = 26
2.2.2.5 Hellenic = 28
2.2.2.6 Italic = 28
2.2.2.7 Celtic = 29
2.2.2.8 Germanic = 31
2.3 From Indo-European to Germanic = 34
2.3.1 Prosody = 35
2.3.2 The Consonant System : Sound Shifts = 35
2.3.2.1 Grimm's Law = 36
2.3.2.2 Verner's Law = 37
2.3.2.3 The Second Consonant Shift = 38
2.3.3 The Vowel System = 40
2.3.4 Morphology = 40
2.3.5 Syntax = 41
2.3.6 Lexicon = 41
2.3.7 Semantics = 42
2.3.8 Indo-European／Germanic Texts = 42
2.3.9 Neogrammarians, Structuralists and Contemporary Linguistic Models = 43
2.4 Typological Classification = 44
2.4.1 Universals = 45
2.4.1.1 Syntactic Universals = 45
2.4.2 Morphological Typology = 46
2.5 Sociolinguistic Focus. The Indo-European Tribes and the Spread of Language. Language Contact and Language Change. Archaeological Linguistics = 49
2.5.1 Language Contact = 50
2.5.2 Archaeological Linguistics = 51
2.6 Conclusion = 53
3 Old English = 55
Timeline : The Old English Period = 55
3.1 Social and Political History = 55
3.1.1 Britain before the English = 55
3.1.2 The Anglo-Saxon Invasions = 56
3.1.3 Anglo-Saxon Influence = 56
3.1.4 Scandinavian Influence = 57
3.2 Linguistic Developments : The Sounds, Structure and Typology of Old English = 59
3.2.1 The Structure of Old English = 59
3.2.1.1 OE Consonants = 60
3.2.1.2 Vowels : from Germanic to Old English = 62
3.2.1.3 Old English Gender = 64
3.2.1.4 Inflection in Old English = 64
3.2.1.5 Old English Syntax = 72
3.2.1.6 Old English Vocabulary = 77
3.3 Linguistic and Literary Achievements = 79
3.3.1 Texts = 79
3.3.1.1 Prose = 80
3.3.1.2 poetry = 82
3.4 The Dialects of Old English = 85
3.5 Sociolinguistic Focus = 86
3.5.1 Language Contact = 86
3.5.1.1 Latin and Celtic = 88
3.5.1.2 The Scandinavians = 90
4 Middle English = 94
Timeline : The Middle English Period = 94
4.1 Social and Political History = 94
4.1.1 Political History : The Norman Conquest to Edward I = 94
4.1.2 Social History = 96
4.1.2.1 The Establishment of Towns and Burghs and the Beginnings of Social Stratification = 96
4.2 Linguistic Developments : Middle English Sounds and Structure, with Particular Emphasis on the Breakdown of the Inflectional System and its Linguistic Typological Implications = 97
4.2.1 Major Changes in the Sound System = 97
4.2.1.1 The Consonants = 97
4.2.1.2 Consonant Changes from Old to Middle English = 98
4.2.1.3 Vowels in Stressed Syllables = 98
4.2.1.4 Vowels in Unstressed Syllables = 99
4.2.1.5 Lengthening and Shortening = 99
4.2.1.6 Summary Table of Vowel Changes from Old to Middle English = 100
4.2.1.7 The Formation of Middle English Diphthongs = 100
4.2.2 Major Morphological Changes from Old to Middle English = 101
4.2.2.1 Loss of Inflections = 101
4.2.2.2 Other Changes in the Morphological System = 102
4.2.2.3 Verbs = 103
4.2.3 Middle English Syntax = 104
4.2.3.1 Word Order = 106
4.2.4 The Lexicon : Loan Words from French = 106
4.2.4.1 Numbers and Parts of the Body = 107
4.2.4.2 Two French Sources = 108
4.3 Middle English Dialects = 108
4.3.1 Linguistic and Literary Achievements = 114
4.3.1.1 Middle English Literature = 114
4.3.2 Language = 114
4.3.3 Genre = 115
4.4 Sociolinguistic Focus : Social Stratification, Multilingualism and Dialect Variation. Language Contact : The Myth of Middle English Creolization = 116
4.4.1 English Re-established = 116
4.4.1.1 Language and the Rise of the Middle Class = 120
4.4.2 The Development of Standard English = 122
4.4.2.1 The Evolution of ME 'Standard' English = 123
4.4.3 Middle English Creolization : Myth? = 125
4.4.3.1 Definitions = 126
4.4.3.2 Pidgins and Creoles in England? = 128
4.5 Conclusion = 133
5 Early Modern English = 135
Timeline : The Early Modern English Period = 135
5.1 Social and Political History = 136
5.1.1 Historical and Political Background = 136
5.1.1.1 Internal Instability and Colonial Expansion = 137
5.2 Linguistic Developments : The Variable Character of Early Modern English = 138
5.2.1 Phonology = 138
5.2.1.1 Consonants = 139
5.2.1.2 Vowels = 140
5.2.1.3 The Great Vowel Shift = 141
5.2.2 Morphology = 141
5.2.2.1 Nouns = 141
5.2.2.2 Pronouns = 142
5.2.2.3 Adjectives and Adverbs = 142
5.2.2.4 Verbs = 143
5.2.2.5 The Spread of Northern Foms = 143
5.2.3 Syntax = 144
5.2.3.1 Periphrastic do = 144
5.2.3.2 Progressive Verb Forms = 145
5.2.3.3 Passives = 145
5.2.4 Sample Text = 146
5.2.5 Vocabulary = 147
5.2.6 The Anxious State of English : The Search for Authority = 147
5.2.6.1 Dictionaries and the Question of Linguistic Authority : Swift's and Johnson's View of Language = 149
5.3 Linguistic and Literary Achievement = 152
5.4 Sociolinguistic Focus = 154
5.4.1 Variation in Early Modern English = 154
5.4.2 Standardization = 156
5.4.2.1 The Printing Press = 156
5.4.2.2 The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation = 156
5.4.2.3 English Established = 157
5.4.3 The Great Vowel Shift = 158
5.4.3.1 Phonological Change = 158
5.4.4 Case Study : Power and Solidarity Relations in Early Modern English = 162
5.5 Conclusion = 166
6 Present-Day English = 167
Timeline : Present-Day English = 167
Introduction = 168
6.1 Social and Political History = 169
6.1.1 The Age of Revolutions, Wars and Imperialism = 169
6.1.2 Urbanization, Industrialization and Social Stratification = 170
6.2 Linguistic Developments = 172
6.2.1 Morphology and Syntax = 172
6.2.1.1 Morphology = 172
6.2.1.2 Syntax = 173
6.2.2 The Lexicon = 175
6.2.2.1 Colonialism, Contact and Borrowings = 175
6.2.2.2 neologisms = 176
6.2.2.3 Illustrative Texts = 178
6.3 Modern English Dialects = 179
6.3.1 Traditional Dialects = 180
6.3.2 Modern Dialects = 182
6.3.3 Received Pronunciation (RP) : The Social Background = 185
6.3.3.1 Characteristics of RP = 187
6.3.4 RP, Estuary English and 'the Queen's English' = 188
6.4 Sociolinguistic Focus : English in Scotland, Ireland and Wales - Multilingualism in Britain = 191
6.4.1 English in the British Isles = 191
6.4.1.1 English in Scotland = 191
6.4.1.2 English in Wales = 195
6.4.1.3 English in Ireland = 198
6.4.2 Immigrant Varieties of English in Britain = 200
6.4.2.1 Immigration to Britain in the PDE Period = 200
6.4.2.2 Colonial Immigration and Language = 202
7 English in the United States = 208
Timeline : America in the Modern Period = 208
7.1 Social and Political History = 209
7.1.1 Settlement and Language = 209
7.1.2 Settlement by Region = 210
7.1.2.1 The Original Thirteen Colonies = 210
7.1.2.2 The Middle West = 213
7.1.2.3 The South and West = 214
7.2 The Development of American English = 216
7.2.1 The Strength and Maintenance of Dialect Boundaries = 216
7.2.2 How, Why and When American English Began to Diverge from British English = 217
7.2.2.1 Physical Separation = 217
7.2.2.2 The Different Physical Conditions Encountered by the Settlers = 218
7.2.2.3 Contact with Immigrant Non-Native Speakers of English = 219
7.2.2.4 Developing Political Differences and the Growing American Sense of National Identity = 219
7.3 Language Variation in the United States = 222
7.3.1 Uniformity and Diversity in Early American English = 222
7.3.2 Regional Dialect Divisions in American English = 223
7.3.2.1 The Lexicon = 223
7.3.2.2 Phonology : Consonants = 226
7.3.2.3 Phonology : Vowels = 227
7.3.3 Social and Ethnic Dialects = 229
7.3.3.1 Social Class and Language Change = 231
7.3.3.2 Ethnicity = 231
7.3.3.3 African-American Vernacular English = 232
7.3.3.4 Traditional Dialects and the Resistance to Change = 237
8 World-Wide English = 241
Timeline : World-Wide English = 241
8.1 Social and Political History : The Spread of English across the Globe = 243
8.1.1 British Colonialism = 244
8.1.1.1 Canada = 244
8.1.1.2 The Caribbean = 245
8.1.1.3 Australia = 246
8.1.1.4 New Zealand = 247
8.1.1.5 South Africa = 247
8.1.1.6 South Asia = 248
8.1.1.7 Former Colonial Africa : West Africa = 250
8.1.1.8 East Africa = 252
8.1.1.9 South-East Asia and South Pacific = 253
8.1.2 An Overview of the Use of English throughout the World = 255
8.2 English as a Global Language = 256
8.2.1 The Industrial Revolution = 256
8.2.2 American Economic Superiority and Political Leadership = 257
8.2.3 American Technological Domination = 257
8.2.4 The Boom in English Language Teaching = 258
8.2.5 The Need for a Global Language = 259
8.2.6 Structural Considerations = 260
8.2.7 Global and at the Same Time Local = 261
8.3 English as a Killer Language = 264
8.3.1. Language Death = 265
8.3.2 Language and Communication Technology = 266
8.4 The Future of English = 267
Bibliography = 270
Index = 280
