| Description |
viii, 305 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-287) and index. |
| Contents |
A note on texts and letter forms -- Introduction : Finding English, finding us -- 1. Caedmon learns to sing : Old English and the origins of poetry -- 2. From Beowulf to Wulfstan : the language of Old English literature -- 3. In this year : the politics of language and the end of Old English -- 4. From kingdom to realm : middle English in a French world -- 5. Lord of this langage : Chaucer's English -- 6. I is an Ille a millere as are ye : Middle English dialects -- 7. The great vowel shift and the changing character of English -- 8. Chancery, Caxton, and the making of English prose -- 9. I do, I will : Shakespeare's English -- 10. A universal hubbub wild : new words and worlds in early modern English -- 11. Visible speech : the Orthoepists and the origins of standard English -- 12. A harmless drudge : Samuel Johnson and the making of the dictionary -- 13. Horrid, hooting stanzas : lexicography and literature in American English -- 14. Antses in the sugar : dialect and regionalism in American English -- 15. Hello, dude : Mark Twain and the making of the American idiom -- 16. Ready for the funk : African American English and its impact -- 17. Pioneers through an untrodden forest : the Oxford English dictionary and its readers -- 18. Listening to Private Ryan : war and language -- 19. He speaks in your voice : everybody's English -- Appendix : English sounds and their representation -- Glossary -- References and further reading -- Acknowledgments -- Index. |
| Subject |
English language -- History.
|
|
English language -- Etymology.
|
|
English language -- Old English, approximately 450-1100.
|
|
English language -- Middle English, 1100-1500.
|
|
Linguistics.
|
| ISBN |
023113794X cloth alkaline paper |
|
9780231137942 cloth alkaline paper |
|
0231510764 (e-book) |
|
9780231510769 (e-book) |
|
