A History of the English Language

by Elly van Gelderen

THIS INFORMATION REFERS TO AN OLD EDITION. This exceptionally clear text focuses on internal changes in the English language. It outlines the history of English from pre-Old English times to the present. Not only does it present the traditional morphological descriptions of the various stages of the language, it provides many example sentences, texts, and cartoons that are analyzed for the benefit of the student and which make this book ideal for class use. Some language-external topics are covered such as early printing and authorship debates. Tables and figures complement the material covered and exercises review the main points as well as ask further, more challenging, questions. Answers to the exercises are provided, as is a time line listing some of the external events, and some guidance on how to use the OED. Complementary web site information is provided throughout the book, and a companion web site accompanies the book.
This book has a companion

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, History

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinated with the subject material but found the presentation lacking--van Gelderen could have worked harder to make her book more engaging.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, this book is very informational on the history of the English language, showing how it changed over the centuries and some reasons why those changes occurred. However, I found it a bit disorganized, and it was difficult to follow—no wonder, of course, as the history of the English language is such a dense topic that is difficult to organize well. I did have to do outside research to understand what van Gelderen was arguing for sometimes, but overall I think the book was very concise and helpful.

[Liliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely learned a lot from this book! It was fascinating to learn that English is a Germanic language that has also borrowed from Latin, French, Gothic, Sanskrit, Old Dutch, etc. It's a great book if you're interested in the history of the English language.

[MissBirdee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read this for class. It's dry but it gets the job done

[Johnson Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is very helpful

[Kathleen C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a textbook therefore sometimes a little dry but overall very informative and easy to use.