Looks at the evolution of the English language.

Read about the history of the most popular language of the thousands spoken in the world today.

This volume consists of 19 papers presented at the 16th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, which was held in August 2003 in Copenhagen and drew the largest number of participants and the widest array of languages that this important biannual conference has ever had. As with previous volumes, the papers selected cover a wide range of subjects besides the core areas of historical linguistics, and this time include studies on ethnolinguistics, grammaticalisation, language contact, sociolinguistics, and typology. The individual languages treated include Brazilian Portuguese, Chukchi, Korean, Danish, English, German, Greek, Japanese, Kok-Paponk, Latin, Newar, Old Norse, Romanian, Seneca, Spanish, and Swedish. The volume reflects the state of the art both empirical and theoretical - in Historical Linguistics today, and shows the discipline to be as flourishing and capable of new advances as ever.

The history and development of English, from the earliest known writings to its status today as a dominant world language, is a subject of major importance to linguists and historians. In this book, a team of international experts cover the entire recorded history of the English language, outlining its development over fifteen centuries. With an emphasis on more recent periods, every key stage in the history of the language is covered, with full accounts of standardisation, names, the distribution of English in Britain and North America, and its global spread. New historical surveys of the crucial aspects of the language are presented, and historical changes that have affected English are treated as a continuing process, helping to explain the shape of the language today. This complete and up-to-date history of English will be indispensable to all advanced students, scholars and teachers in this prominent field.

In view of the numerous books that already exist on the subject, it may not be immediately obvious to the layman why scholars should feel the need to continue to write on the history of the English language. However, the flood of writing continues and bears witness to an incessant demand and an unabating interest. As this author demonstrates in his opening chapter, the relevance of English language history is as great as ever, not least as a central key to the understanding of cultural history. In conjunction with two further volumes scheduled to appear at a later date, this volume gives a comprehensive survey of salient aspects of English language history from its embryonic stages to the language spoken today in England and America. The volume spans the period up to 1154, the year which saw the inauguration of the Plantagenet era in England and the last year to be recorded in the annals of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.