**NOT FOR SALE IN THE USA, CANADA OR THE PHILIPPINES** A History of the English Language explores the linguistic and cultural development of English from the Roman conquest of England to the present day to provide a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of its history. This best-selling classic textbook has been revised and updated and encourages the reader to develop both an understanding of present-day English and an enlightened attitude toward the issues affecting the language today. New features of the sixth edition include: an additional chapter titled 'English in the Twenty-first Century', which examines the future of English and other global languages and includes an assessment of Chinese as a world language an in-depth treatment of phonological changes, such as the placement of the Great Vowel Shift as a bridge between Middle English and Renaissance English further coverage of corpus linguistics, especially for Renaissance English fresh sections on accent and register a new survey of the recent debate between "creolists" and "neo-Anglicists" on the origins of African American Vernacular English. Balanced and wide-ranging, this textbook is a must-read for any student studying the history of the English language

In the spirit of the main text, the Companion pays attention to the linguistic effects of social, political, and literary events. The maps are designed to set the geographical contexts for these cultural influences during the Indo-European period, the Middle Ages, and the eras of the British Empire and of American ascendancy. The pre-chapter on "The Sounds of English" contains phonetic information and exercises that should be helpful in most of the chapters that follow. The "Questions for Review" that begin each chapter give an overview of the most important topics in each period and serve as a checklist of items that should be familiar in any discussion of the history of English. Now that we are into the second decade of the twenty-first century, a twelfth chapter has been added to the main text. Because English as a global language is a central issue in its history at this point, the questions for review in Chapter 12 raise topics for discussion concerning the major languages of the world, prospects for the future, and less obvious issues such as the relative "complexity" of languages. The headings for most sections are followed by a corresponding section number in the History. On many topics the amount of exposition preceding the exercises varies more or less inversely with the amount in the History, the idea being to have a full discussion of important topics without a duplication between the two books.

**NOT FOR SALE IN THE USA, CANADA OR THE PHILIPPINES** A History of the English Language explores the linguistic and cultural development of English from the Roman conquest of England to the present day to provide a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of its history. This best-selling classic textbook has been revised and updated and encourages the reader to develop both an understanding of present-day English and an enlightened attitude toward the issues affecting the language today. New features of the sixth edition include: an additional chapter titled 'English in the Twenty-first Century', which examines the future of English and other global languages and includes an assessment of Chinese as a world language an in-depth treatment of phonological changes, such as the placement of the Great Vowel Shift as a bridge between Middle English and Renaissance English further coverage of corpus linguistics, especially for Renaissance English fresh sections on accent and register a new survey of the recent debate between "creolists" and "neo-Anglicists" on the origins of African American Vernacular English. Balanced and wide-ranging, this textbook is a must-read for any student studying the history of the English language