Overview

This volume investigates the Indo-European and Germanic background to the English language, looking at how inherited elements of phonology and morphology survived into the Old English period. It then considers various kinds of contact between the first speakers of English and speakers of Celtic, Latin and Scandinavian, under different sociolinguistic circumstances. The manner in which initial standardisation of English took place, with considerable code-switching, and the structural changes which the language underwent in this early period are discussed. The various analytical methods used to examine the available data are considered in a dedicated chapter on philology. The volume also contains a set of longer chapters. These take a detailed look at various levels of language from phonology, morphology, syntax through to semantics and pragmatics, and include reviews of historical sociolinguistics and onomastics.

Full Product Details

Author:   Laura Wright (University of Cambridge) ,  Raymond Hickey (University of Limerick)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.90cm , Height: 5.10cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   1.530kg
ISBN:  

9781009205689

ISBN 10:   1009205684
Pages:   896
Publication Date:   30 October 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Volume I: General Editor's introduction Raymond Hickey; Introduction to volume I Laura Wright and Raymond Hickey; Part I. The Context of English: 1. The Indo–European framework Donald Ringe; 2. English in its Germanic surrounding Wayne Harbert; 3. Language development in the old English period Julia Fernández Cuesta; 4. The geography of English in England Merja Steenroos; 5. Philology and the history of English Laura Wright and Raymond Hickey; Part II. Contact and External Influences: 6. Early contact with Celtic Raymond Hickey; 7. Latin in the early history of English Olga Timofeeva; 8. The Scandinavian period Richard Dance and Sarah Pons–Sanz; 9. French and English in the later middle ages Geert de Wilde; 10. Code–switching and language mixing Herbert Schendl; 11. Early standardisation Louise Sylvester; 12. Neoclassical borrowings and their influence on English Letitia Vezzosi and Luca Baratta; 13.Typological reorientation in the history of English Marion Elenbaas; Part III. The Long View by Levels and Areas of Language: 14. Historical phonology Donka Minkova; 15. Historical Morphology Elżbieta Adamczyk; 16. Historical syntax Bettelou Los; 17. Historical semantics Kathryn Allan; 18. Historical pragmatics Andreas Jucker; 19. Historical sociolinguistics Terttu Nevalainen and Tanja Säily; 20. Historical onomastics Richard Coates; Appendix: Recommended reading.

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Author Information

Laura Wright is Professor of the History of the English Language at the University of Cambridge. Among her recent publications are The Multilingual Origins of Standard English (2020), Sunnyside: A Sociolinguistic History of British House Names (2020), The Social Life of Words (2023) and English Grammar for Literature Students (2024). Raymond Hickey is Adjunct Professor at the University of Limerick, Ireland and former Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. His recent publications include Listening to the Past (2017), The Cambridge Handbook of Areal Linguistics (2017), English in Multilingual South Africa (2020), The Handbook of Language Contact (2020), Sounds of English Worldwide (2023) and The Oxford Handbook of Irish English (2024).

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