The History of English

Front Cover
Wardja Press, Dec 3, 2007 - Education - 232 pages
The History of English: A Linguistic Introduction is for anyone interested in the history of the English language. While leading the reader through the pre-history of English, through Germanic times, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Modern English, the book also introduces the reader to concepts in theoretical and historical linguistics. It includes authentic texts from each period of the language, from Beowulf to the King James Bible. This book is a great introduction to the field of linguistics for anyone interested in language!

From inside the book

Contents

Reconstructing IndoEuropean
7
IndoEuropean Phonetics and Phonology
13
The IndoEuropean Daughter Families
28
Characteristics of the Germanic Languages
34
The Subdivisions of Germanic
47
The Germanic Daughter Languages
48
Old Norse
56
Old Saxon
68
Sample Texts
108
Literature
114
Sample Texts
133
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH
139
Sample Texts
158
THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH
177
Sample Texts
195
INDEX
213

Old Frisian
78
Literature
88

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Page 163 - OF MAN'S first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, Heavenly Muse...
Page 160 - Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself.
Page 5 - The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists...
Page 3 - Therefore is the name of it called Babel ; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Page 162 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light ; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good : and God divided the light from the darkness.
Page 160 - O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him, When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air.
Page 162 - And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Page 163 - And chiefly Thou. O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread. Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss, And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That, to the highth of this great argument, I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.
Page 162 - And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

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