Outlines of the History of the English Language

Part of the Cambridge Series for Schools and Training Colleges, this 1900 book provides a concise, yet comprehensive, introduction to the development of English.

T. N. Toller (Author)

9780521231688, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 June 2011

300 pages
20.3 x 12.7 x 1.7 cm, 0.33 kg

Originally published in 1900, this book was created as part of the Cambridge Series for Schools and Training Colleges, and was designed to provide a concise, yet comprehensive, introduction to the development of English. In many ways, it also acts as an introduction to the historical study of languages in general, aiming to foster within the general reader an understanding of language 'as a living organism, ever undergoing changes'. Language is seen as informing, and being informed by, history in a complicated two-way process. Highly readable, and containing numerous illustrative examples, this text will be of value to anyone with an interest in English history, educational history or linguistics.

1. The history of a language a record of change
2. Relation to one another, and to the common original, of languages which have had a common source
3. Early history of a language to be learnt from a comparison with others
4. The Saxon shore
5. The position of the Teutons in Britain secured before the end of the 6th century
6. Learning in England
7. Peculiarities of the poetic diction in Old English
8. Decay of learning in England after the appearance of the Danes
9. Object of the chapter - General remarks on the Old English specimens
10. The early West-Saxon vowel system and the development it shews
11. Times of foreign influence in English before the Norman conquest slight
12. Important events in the 15th century
13. The language of the early part of the 17th century.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]