This collection reflects Minoji Akimoto's concern with studies of change in English that are theoretically-informed, but founded on substantial bodies of data. Some of the contributors focus on individual texts and text-types, among them literature and journalism, others on specific periods, from Old English to the nineteenth century, but the majority trace a linguistic process - such as negation, passivisation, complementation or grammaticalisation - through the history of English. While several papers take a fresh look at manuscript evidence, the harnessing of wideranging electronic corpora is a recurring feature methodologically. The linguistic fields treated include word semantics, stylistics, orthography, word-order, pragmatics and lexicography. The volume also contains a bibliography of Professor Akimoto's writings and an index of linguistic terms.

"This practical and informative course book is a fascinating, visual volume which leads the student through the development of the language from Old English, through Middle and Early Modern English to the establishment of Standard English in the eighteenth century." "At the core of this substantially expanded second edition lies a series of nearly 200 historical texts, of which more than half are reproduced in facsimile, and which illustrate the progressive changes in the language. The book is firmly based upon linguistic description, with commentaries which form a series of case studies demonstrating the evidence for language change at every level - handwriting, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, grammar and meaning." "Such a wealth of texts, as well as the structured activities and the various case studies, allow the volume to be used not only as a stimulating course text, guiding students through the analysis of data, but also as a comprehensive resource book and invaluable reference tool for teachers and students at all levels."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Terttu Nevalainen helps students to place the language of the period 1500-1700 in its historical context, whilst showing its regional and social variations. He focuses on the structure of the 'general dialect' and its spelling, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, as well as its dialectal origins.

Standard English has evolved and developed in many ways over the past hundred years. From pronunciation to vocabulary to grammar, this concise survey clearly documents the recent history of Standard English. Drawing on large amounts of authentic corpus data, it shows how we can track ongoing changes to the language, and demonstrates each of the major developments that have taken place. As well as taking insights from a vast body of literature, Christian Mair presents the results of his own cutting-edge research, revealing some important changes which have not been previously documented. He concludes by exploring how social and cultural factors, such as the American influence on British English, have affected Standard English in recent times. Authoritative, informative and engaging, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in language change in progress, particularly those working on English, and will be welcomed by students, researchers and language teachers alike.

Uniquely organized in terms of theoretical approaches, this is an advanced textbook on the study of English historical linguistics.

English historical linguistics is a subfield of linguistics which has developed theories and methods for exploring the history of the English language. This Handbook provides an account of state-of-the-art research on this history. It offers an in-depth survey of materials, methods, and language-theoretical models used to study the long diachrony of English. The frameworks covered include corpus linguistics, historical sociolinguistics, historical pragmatics and manuscript studies, among others. The chapters, by leading experts, examine the interplay of language theory and empirical data throughout, critically assessing the work in the field. Of particular importance are the diverse data sources which have become increasingly available in electronic form, allowing the discipline to develop in new directions. The Handbook offers access to the rich and many-faceted spectrum of work in English historical linguistics, past and present, and will be useful for researchers and students interested in hands-on research on the history of English.