History of the English Language: Revised Edition

by Elly van Gelderen

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

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, History

358 pages, ebook

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.