Oxford History of English by Lynda Mugglestone

Oxford History of English by Lynda Mugglestone

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Summary

Traces English language from its obscure Indo-European roots to its twenty-first century position as the world's first language. This work describes the history of English within the British Isles, its changing roles in different places, and its rise to global pre-eminence. It explains changes in words, meanings, grammar, and pronunciation.

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Oxford History of English by Lynda Mugglestone

This book presents the history of English from its obscure Indo-European roots to its twenty-first century position as the world's first language. It shows how English evolved in the British Isles and how it spread to the United States and through the old British empire to every corner of the world. It examines the different versions and roles of the language in every part of the globe and shows how English rose to international pre-eminence. With approachable but impeccable scholarship fourteen experts chart the history of written and spoken English in all its rich and protean variety. Their accounts are made vivid with examples drawn from an immense range of documentary evidence including letters, diaries, and private records. They explore and explain the mixture of gradual and rapid change in the words, meanings, grammar, or pronunciation of English at different times and in different places. They examine the three-century rise of standard English and received pronunciation and consider their current status and wellbeing. This book will appeal to everyone with a keen interest in the English language and its development.
answer[s] the need for a history of English that is up-to-date, culturally sensitive, detailed and rigorousYet also, true to Emerson's philosophy, convey[s] some of the lustre, excitement and agony of the past. Henry Hitchings, New Statesman a fascinating book to browse in Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman ...this is an appealing volume... For those who wish to carry on after the first term or textbook...and those who are interested in getting a guided exposure to authentic text samples or in looking a little behind the scenes of scholarly argumentation, this is the work of choice. English World-Wide, 29:1

Professor of English History and Fellow and Tutor in English at Pembroke College, Lynda Mugglestone She is the co-editor of Lexicography and the Oxford English Dictionary (OUP 2002), The Oxford History of English (OUP 2006, 2nd edn 2012), and Samuel Johnson: The Arc of the Pendulum (OUP 2012) with Freya Johnston. Talking Proper: The Development of Accent as a Social Symbol (OUP 1995, 2nd edn 2003), Lost for Words: The Secret History of the Oxford English Dictionary (Yale 2004), and Dictionaries: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2011) are only a few of her writings.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780199249312
ISBN 10 0199249318
Title Oxford History of English
Author Lynda Mugglestone
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher Oxford University Press
Year published 2006-07-27
Number of pages 504
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.