The History of EnglishThe 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
Results 1-5 of 38
Page i
... spoken in the first mil- lennium of our era. As you can see, it is quite different from the Eng- lish you speak today. In The History of English: A Linguistic Introduction, you will learn about the history of English from prehistoric ...
... spoken in the first mil- lennium of our era. As you can see, it is quite different from the Eng- lish you speak today. In The History of English: A Linguistic Introduction, you will learn about the history of English from prehistoric ...
Page 1
... spoken by just thousands of people on an isolated island , to its mighty clashes with other neighboring languages and cultures , to its medieval and early modern flowering as a literary language , and down to its present - day status as ...
... spoken by just thousands of people on an isolated island , to its mighty clashes with other neighboring languages and cultures , to its medieval and early modern flowering as a literary language , and down to its present - day status as ...
Page 2
... spoken and understood language in the world. In addition, I will speculate about the future of the lan- guage, based on current trends. Along the way, you will learn about the culture, literature, and history of the people who spoke the ...
... spoken and understood language in the world. In addition, I will speculate about the future of the lan- guage, based on current trends. Along the way, you will learn about the culture, literature, and history of the people who spoke the ...
Page 4
... spoken or written thousands or even hundreds of years ago . This is what happened to Indo - European . Its speakers spread out all over Europe , the Middle East , India , and even parts of Asia , and it began to change over time . You ...
... spoken or written thousands or even hundreds of years ago . This is what happened to Indo - European . Its speakers spread out all over Europe , the Middle East , India , and even parts of Asia , and it began to change over time . You ...
Page 5
... spoken in the Middle East . The famous quote below is from Jones : “ The Sanskrit language , whatever be its antiquity , is of a won- derful structure ; more perfect than the Greek , more copious than the Latin , and more exquisitely ...
... spoken in the Middle East . The famous quote below is from Jones : “ The Sanskrit language , whatever be its antiquity , is of a won- derful structure ; more perfect than the Greek , more copious than the Latin , and more exquisitely ...
Contents
7 | |
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 |
213 | |
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Common terms and phrases
adjective alphabet became best known called century chapter declension definite article dialects diphthongs Dutch Early Modern English England eventually example forms French Future English gender Germanic daughter languages Germanic languages gōdan gōde Gothic grammatical Greek Grimm's Law guage hæv Indo-European infinitive inflectional endings king Latin letter linguist lish long vowels masculine meaning Middle English Middle English period Modern German Modern Pronunciation modern-day nominative noun Old English Old Frisian Old High German Old Low Franconian Old Norse Old Saxon original Past Participle past tense periphrastic person plural person singular personal pronouns phonetic present participle Present Preterite pronounced reconstructed rhotacism Sample Texts schwa sentence shows simply sing sound change Spanish speakers of English spoken subjunctive syllable thematic third person thou tion versus voiced voiceless Vowel Shift vowel sounds weak verbs West Germanic West Germanic language word written
Popular passages
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.