PREFACE
PRELIMINARIES. THE BASICS OF LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION
1. THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH AND THE MEANING OF “ENGLISH.” PERIODISATION. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF ENGLISH
1.1. WHAT IS LANGUAGE CHANGE? INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PRESSURE FOR CHANGE
1.2. SOME EXTERNAL ASPECTS TRIGGERING VARIATION AND CHANGE
1.3. SOURCES FOR EVALUATING LANGUAGE CHANGE
1.4. SOME TERMINOLOGY CONCERNING LANGUAGE CHANGE
1.5. INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY OF LANGUAGES
1.6. THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
2. OLD ENGLISH
2.1. EXTERNAL HISTORY. LANGUAGE CONTACT
2.2. OLD ENGLISH SOUNDS AND SPELLING CORRESPONDENCES
2.3. SOME SOUND CHANGES FROM GERMANIC TO OLD ENGLISH
2.4. OLD ENGLISH WORDS AND LEXICAL PROCESSES
2.5. SEMANTIC CHANGES
2.6. OLD ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX
2.7. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
2.8. THE DIALECTS OF OLD ENGLISH
2.9. OLD ENGLISH TEXTS AND MANUSCRIPTS: THE BEOWULF MANUSCRIPT (COTTON MS VITELLIUS A XV), THE JUNIUS MANUSCRIPT, THE VERCELLI BOOK, AND THE EXETER BOOK
2.10. LEARNING HOW TO WRITE A PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY
3. MIDDLE ENGLISH
3.1. THE MIDDLE ENGLISH ALPHABET AND SPELLING CONVENTIONS
3.2. PHONETIC EROSION AND LEVELLING OF INFLECTIONS
3.3. MORPHOLOGY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH
3.4. MIDDLE ENGLISH DIALECTAL AREAS. GENERAL FEATURESOF ME DIALECTS
4. TRANSITION TO MODERN ENGLISH
4.1. THE PRINTING PRESS AND ITS IMPACT ON STANDARDISING ENGLISH
4.2. THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT OR VOWEL SHIFTS?
4.3. DIALECTS IN MOTION
4.4. THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE IN THE ISLES
4.5. SOCIOLINGUISTIC FACTORS AND LANGUAGE STANDARDISATION
4.6. THE RISE OF LANGUAGE AUTHORITIES
4.7. WORD FORMATION
4.8. AURATE DICTION
4.9. LEARNING ENGLISH
4.10 MIDDLE ENGLISH PRAGMATICS
5. ENGLISH IN THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE
5.1. PRONUNCIATION CHANGES
5.2. VOCABULARY
5.3. MORPHOLOGICAL PARADIGMS IN EARLY MODERN ENGLISH
5.4. SYNTACTIC PATTERNS
6. ENGLISH AFTER SHAKESPEARE UNTIL 1800
6.1. IMPLEMENTATION AND LINGUISTIC CODIFICATION
6.2. PRESCRIPTIVISM VS. DESCRIPTIVISM
6.3. ENGLISH IN THE ISLES AND BEYOND
7. ENGLISH IN 1800 AND AFTER
7.1. EXPANSION OF VOCABULARY AND WORD FORMATION
7.2. ACCENTS
7.3. MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX DEVELOPMENTS
7.4. MAPPING MODERN ENGLISH
8. A SHORT OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH WORLD VARIETIES. ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE. THE CONCEPT OF NATIVENESS
9. MANAGING TEXTUAL EVIDENCE FOR EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS. TRANSCRIPTIONS AND EDITIONS. CORPUS LINGUISTICS METHODS AND TOOLS
9.1. TRANSCRIPTIONS AND EDITIONS
9.2. CORPUS LINGUISTICS METHODS AND TOOLS
READING PASSAGES
KEY TO EXERCISES
REFERENCES CITED
PRIMARY SOURCES
SECONDARY SOURCES