History of English: A Resource Book for Students

Routledge English Language Introductions

by Dan McIntyre

History of English provides students with the historical and contextual background to the study of English and answers the questions of why and how the English language has come to be written and spoken as it is today. This book provides a fresh perspective and innovative insight into an area that is often dealt with in a prosaic and dry manner. History of Structured to reflect the chronological development of the English language, History of English describes and explains the changes in the language over a span of 1500 years, covering all aspects from phonology and grammar, to the register and discourse. The book also considers international varieties of Englishes and the most recent developments in the history of English. Incorporating examples from a wide variety of texts History of English provides an interactive and structured textbook that will be essential reading for all students of English language and linguistics.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2008

Reviews

[Vesper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great resource for anyone interested in the English language and its development, presented both from a linguistic and historical perspective. The book is written in an entertaining way with a nice balance between the different approaches to the topics. Also features "classroom activities" that guide the reader to think deeper on the subject. I first read it as a freshman at university and didn't find it jarring or overly complicated like many other textbooks. Easy to understand and suitable for people with no prior experience in the field of linguistics as well.

[Sadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a history fan, but learning how the English language came to be was entertaining. I mostly read sections A-C of the book and left out section D for my professor to explain. But otherwise, it's a very accessible text that describes the internal and external factors pertaining to the development of the language.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a mixture of linguistic theory and history. I read it as part of my undergraduste course, taught by Dr McIntyre himself. His easy to follow lectures and seminars are refleced in the book, which I feel follows a logical structure and includes evidence that a beginner such as myself could follow. As a historian I also appreciated the inclusion of the historial context to the changes outlined and explained in the book.

[Kuu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the way this book was set up - dealing with the periods by topic rather than strictly chronologically -, even though it made working on assignments a pain sometimes. It gave a good overview over not only the purely linguistic factors, but also the rough history and what (might have) led to those changes. Definitely made me want to look into the topic some more.

[Van Anh]

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