The English Language: Structure and DevelopmentThe 'correct' use of English has been the subject of vigorous debate in recent years. But what defines 'correctness' in our use of language? And how has this altered over time? In this authoritative survey of the history of the English language, the author examines how linguistic traditions have changed and developed over the centuries to produce the language that we are familiar with today. Taking present-day usage as its starting point, the book uses a topic-based approach to explore the historical development of vocabulary, grammar, syntax, sounds, and spellings, thus providing both a firm sense of the structure of the language and an outline of its history. Throughout the book, the author uses illustrative passages and examples to highlight the main themes and arguments. There are also exercises at the end of each chapter and a Linguistic Glossary of key terms, with examples. -- From publisher's description. |
Contents
The Vocabulary of English | 13 |
Copious language | 27 |
Other borrowings | 33 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
adjective adverbial affixes alphabet analytic language auxiliary verbs borrowed into English called Cambridge cats Chancery Standard Chaucer cognate cohesion commas common compounds consonants context contrast dialect Diphthongs direct object distinction earlier Early Modern English eighteenth century England English Grammar English Language especially etymology examples fourteenth century free morpheme French Germanic grammatical words Hamlet headword indicate intonation Johnson late West Saxon later Latin learned letters lexical linguistic Lollards London Lowth M.E. period main clause meaning Middle English Midland morphemes normal Noun Phrase origin Oxford English Dictionary past tense perhaps person phonemes place names plural prepositions pronoun pronunciation punctuation PURR questions Quoted Received Pronunciation reflect Renaissance rhymes Scandinavian semantic sentence Shakespeare simply sometimes sound speak speech spelling spoken Standard English subordinate clause suffix syntax synthetic language translation usually vocabulary Voiced Voiceless vowel West Saxon writing written Wycliffite žat