A social history of English

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 3
Copyright......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
List of figures......Page 7
List of tables......Page 8
Author’s preface to the first edition......Page 9
Preface to the second edition......Page 10
Introduction......Page 12
Part I  Emergence and consolidation......Page 15
1  Languages in contact......Page 16
LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL FUNCTION......Page 17
BILINGUALISM......Page 20
LATIN AS THE LANGUAGE OF EMPIRE......Page 21
THE COLLAPSE OF THE EMPIRE IN THE NORTH......Page 22
THE GERMANIC INVASION OF BRITAIN......Page 24
THE ANGLO-SAXON SETTLEMENT......Page 26
THE VIKINGS......Page 28
THE NORMANS......Page 31
CULTURAL CONTACT WITH THE FRENCH OF PARIS......Page 34
2  Standardisation and writing......Page 37
THE NATURE OF THE WRITING SYSTEM......Page 40
THE SCRIBAL TRADITION......Page 42
STANDARDISATION: THE SELECTION OF A DOMINANT VARIETY......Page 43
STANDARDISATION: ACCEPTANCE OF THE DOMINANT VARIETY......Page 45
ELABORATION OF FUNCTION......Page 48
CODIFICATION......Page 52
CODIFICATION AND SOCIAL CLASS......Page 58
Part II  Changing patterns of usage......Page 60
3  Words and meanings......Page 61
THE MOTIVATION FOR BORROWING......Page 63
CODIFICATION OF WORDS AND MEANINGS......Page 65
THE COMPLEXITY OF MEANING......Page 68
TYPES OF SEMANTIC CHANGE......Page 71
KEY-WORDS......Page 75
THE VOCABULARY OF POWER, RANK, AND STATUS......Page 76
ELIZABETHAN TERMS OF ADDRESS......Page 78
THE SEMANTIC DISPARAGEMENT OF WOMEN......Page 80
4  Grammar......Page 83
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GRAMMAR......Page 84
SOME CATEGORIES OF GRAMMATICAL DESCRIPTION......Page 87
THE ‘SYNTHETIC’ GRAMMAR OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS......Page 91
THE LOSS OF INFLEXIONS......Page 93
MORPHOLOGICAL SIMPLIFICATION AND SOCIAL STIGMA......Page 97
THE SOCIAL MEANING OF PRONOUNS......Page 99
SYNTACTIC ELABORATION AND SOCIAL PRESTIGE......Page 102
5  Pronunciation......Page 106
POPULAR IDEAS ABOUT PRONUNCIATION......Page 108
THE ANALYSIS OF SOUNDS......Page 110
THE CONSONANTS OF RP......Page 111
RP VOWELS......Page 114
VARIATION AND STYLE......Page 119
VARIATION AND CHANGE......Page 122
THREE STIGMATISED CONSONANT PRONUNCIATIONS......Page 124
THREE REGIONAL INDICATORS......Page 126
THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT......Page 130
Part III  Imposition and spread......Page 136
6  The imposition of English in the British Isles......Page 137
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCOTS......Page 140
LANGUAGE IMPOSITION IN THE CELTIC TERRITORIES: SOME GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS......Page 147
LINGUISTIC COLONIALISM IN IRELAND......Page 154
BILINGUALISM AND LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS AND WALES......Page 157
LANGUAGE DEATH: CORNISH AND MANX......Page 161
7  English as an international language......Page 164
EARLY TRADE IN THE ATLANTIC, AND ITS LINGUISTIC CONSEQUENCES......Page 166
COLONIAL SETTLEMENT......Page 169
STANDARDISATION AND COLONIAL SETTLEMENT......Page 171
AMERICAN ENGLISH......Page 176
THE LANGUAGE OF IMPERIAL RULE......Page 181
ENGLISH AND EDUCATION......Page 183
THE EMERGENCE OF SECOND-LANGUAGE VARIETIES OF ENGLISH......Page 186
INDEPENDENCE AND LANGUAGE PLANNING......Page 191
Part IV  Evidence, interpretation and theory......Page 195
8  A critical linguistic history of English texts......Page 196
Theoretical postscript......Page 231
Exercises and topics for further study......Page 240
Appendix: International phonetic alphabet consonant symbols......Page 244
INTRODUCTION......Page 246
2  STANDARDISATION AND WRITING......Page 247
4  GRAMMAR......Page 248
6  THE IMPOSITION OF ENGLISH IN THE BRITISH ISLES......Page 249
7  ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE......Page 250
8  A CRITICAL LINGUISTIC HISTORY OF ENGLISH TEXTS......Page 251
THEORETICAL POSTSCRIPT......Page 252
Bibliography......Page 253
General index......Page 265
Index of words and forms......Page 277