The Emergence and Development of English

An Introduction
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-1-108-46998-2
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 280 Seiten, Format (B × H): 191 mm x 257 mm, Gewicht: 680 g

Reihe: Cambridge Introductions to the English Language

This textbook provides a step-by-step introduction to the history of the English language (HEL), offering a fresh perspective on the process of language change. Aimed at undergraduate students, The Emergence and Development of English is accessibly written, and contains a wealth of pedagogical tools, including chapter openers, key terms, chapter summaries, end-of-chapter exercises and suggestions for further reading. A central theme of the book is 'emergence', the key term from the study of complex systems, which describes how massive numbers of random verbal interactions give rise to regularities that 'emerge' without specific causes. This unique approach encourages readers to incorporate complex systems into the mainstream coverage of HEL. Additional resources include examples of language from each period as well as appendices on terminology, online resources and audio samples.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kretzschmar Jr, William A

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Historische & Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; 1. Popular English: what we think we know; 2. Emergence; 3. Indo-European; 4. Origins of English; 5. Old English; 6. Early Middle English; 7. Late Middle English; 8. Early Modern English; 9. Modern English; 10. Contemporary English; 11. Standard English; 12. The future of English; Appendix 1. Terms and concepts for studying the English language: expression of words with sounds; Appendix 2. Terms and concepts for studying the English language: beyond expression to content; Appendix 3. Words in use: meaning and corpora.

Über Autor(innen)

Kretzschmar Jr, William A
William A. Kretzschmar, Jr is the Harry and Jane Willson Professor in Humanities at the University of Georgia, and also has an appointment at the University of Oulu, Finland. He is Editor of the American Linguistic Atlas Project, the oldest and largest national research project surveying how people speak differently across the country, and has provided American pronunciations for the online Oxford English Dictionary and other dictionaries in the Oxford US Dictionaries program. In 2014 he held an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Digital Innovation fellowship, during which he developed a computer simulation to model language change. Recent works include The Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English (2017) with Clive Upton, and Exploring Linguistic Science: Language Use, Complexity, and Interaction (Cambridge, 2018) with Allison Burkette.