Van Gelderen Elly. A History of the English Language

Revised edition. — John Benjamins, 2014. — xx, 338 pages. — ISBN: 978-90-272-7043-6.Переработанное издание популярного учебника по истории английского языка.There are a number of well-known histories of the English Language. The present book is more grammatical and typological in focus, i.e. language-internal, although this can of course not be a course on Old and Middle English or on historical linguistics and therefore only parts of the grammar are covered. The change from synthetic to analytic was used as a leitmotiv in this book.
A lot of emphasis is placed on linguistic (phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic) analysis of Old, Middle, and early Modern English texts. This means students will learn how to approach older texts and to work with these. Most examples and texts will be authentic and the use of facsimile editions is encouraged. Incorporating these texts in this book, rather than in an (optional) workbook, makes it easier to see working with texts as an integral part of a class on the history of English. Possible answers are provided to the text questions and the other exercises. Having the answers in the back makes the book usable for self-study as well.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. The goals of this 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