The English language in its complex shapes and forms changes fast. This thoroughly revised edition has been refreshed with current examples of change and has been updated regarding archeological research. Most suggestions brought up by users and reviewers have been incorporated, for instance, a family tree for Germanic has been added, Celtic influence is highlighted much more, there is more on the origin of Chancery English, and internal and external change are discussed in much greater detail. The philosophy of the revised book remains the same with an emphasis on the linguistic history and on using authentic texts. My audience remains undergraduates (and beginning graduates). The goals of the class and the book are to come to recognize English from various time periods, to be able to read each stage with a glossary, to get an understanding of typical language change, internal and external, and to understand something about language typology through the emphasis on the change from synthetic to analytic. This book has a companion website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/z.183.website

This volume critically examines the phenomenon of “English fever” in South Korea from both micro- and macro-perspectives. Drawing on original research and rich illustrative examples, the book investigates two key questions: why is English so popular in Korea, and why is there such a gap between the ‘dreams’ and ‘realities’ associated with English in Korea? These questions are explored through the eyes of English-Korean translators and interpreters, who represent the professional group most intensely engaged in the zeal for English language mastery. Macro-perspectives focus on historical factors leading to the rise of English, with English-Korean translation and interpreting as a key theme. Micro-perspectives explore the dreams that individuals attach to English and the ways in which they imagine it can transform their lives, and contrast these dreams with the stark realities felt on the ground. The gaps between these dreams and realities are explored from various angles, which include commodification, gender and neoliberalism. The book thus offers fresh insights on how the phenomenon of “English fever” has been created, reproduced, and sustained from both historical and contemporary viewpoints. From the reviews: This is an important study of how English is experienced in one country, Korea. A very insightful analysis of the interlocking of historical factors influencing the status of English, and the interlocking significance of class, gender, aesthetics, myth-making, and the role of the media and competitive commodification. The study is based on competent use of relevant theoretical approaches, solid fieldwork, and a personal capacity to draw complex threads together. It demonstrates how language policy can be analysed in a stimulating way that has major importance beyond the borders of Korea. Language ideologies are brought to life effectively. Robert Phillipson, Emeritus Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

The English Language is an essential survey of the development of the language from its Indo-European past to the present day. Now in a third edition, this text offers enhanced discussion of the socio-historical and cultural contexts of the English language, new approaches to the history ofEnglish, and an anthology of specimen texts from the four major periods of English: Old, Middle, Early Modern, and Modern.

This bestselling text by Charles Barber recounts the history of the English language from its ancestry to the present day.

This book is among the first to combine a historical view of media texts with a critical look at their textual diversity today. The thirteen chapters cover corpora of early news-papers and pamphlets, present-day news stories and commentaries, TV talk shows and commercials as well as internet presentations. The studies focus on the wide range of text types in 18th century newspapers and the interpersonal strategies of pamphlets; they pursue the development of the persuasive potential of headlines and advertisements right down to the sophisticated postmodernist and multilingual examples of today. Other topics are the definition and structure of news stories and commentaries, the interpersonal and multi-modal aspects of talkshows, and more radically, the questioning of the journalist’s role in the age of the internet. Generally the stress is on the attention-getting side of media texts rather than on the manipulative qualities investigated by critical discourse analysis.

A Companion to the History of the English Language addresses the linguistic, cultural, social, and literary approaches to language study. The first text to offer a complete survey of the field, this volume provides the most up-to-date insights of leading international scholars. An accessible reference to the history of the English language Comprises more than sixty essays written by leading international scholars Aids literature students in incorporating language study into their work Includes an historical survey of the English language, from its Germanic and Indo- European beginnings to modern British and American English Enriched with maps, diagrams, and illustrations from historical publications Introduces the latest scholarship in the field

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.

Volume two of this set covers the Middle English Period, approximately 1066-1476, and describes and analyses developments in the language from the Norman Conquest to the introduction of printing.