A History of the English Language

by N.F. Blake

'a comprehensive introduction...detailed, scholarly and persuasive...the book's continued relevance to our contemporary arguments and language makes his account particularly stimulating.' - Brian Cox, Times Educational Supplement

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics, Language, Writing

400 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Norman Francis Blake

Reviews

[Francisco Márquez]

Such an entertaining book that takes you on an exciting journey through the history of English.
It is true the way it explains phonetic developments is a bit confusing for me, and maybe more schematic figures would have been helpful to understand them, but apart from that it has few improvable aspects.
Besides, it is interesting in its treatment of changes in language attitudes throughout the different ages and the conformation of standard English, as well as the periodization of its history that goes beyond the traditional Old, Middle, and Modern English eras.

[Louise Chambers]

Be prepared to jump into the deep, deep end of the scholar-talk pool with this one. The author doesn't give details as to the sound of the phonemes(?) he is describing, nor the gramatical structures and definitions he uses.

I wanted more of a history, and this is full-on linguistics. I'll muddle through, but I'm going to have to hunt down a grammar to help me define the text elements and linguistic terms.

I couldn't finish it. Above my level and not explanatory enough for me to learn.