The History of the English Language: A Source BookThe overall structure of the book sustains the view of the development of the language through successive historical periods towards the present-day standard. The collection of texts emphasizes the stylistic and dialectal variety of English, acknowledging this as important to linguistic change. Among the topics which might arise from this collection are the relationship between dialect speech and the standard at various periods, its social implications, the influence upon English of foreign languages, the occurrence of colloquial expression in writing or the characteristics of Latin-based prose. |
Contents
Alfreds Preface to the Pastoral Care | 17 |
Cædmon | 27 |
A Homily of Ælfric | 37 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
adjective Ælfric Ancrene Wisse Anglian Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Annd beornas bið borrowed Brilliana Harley Chaucer colloquial common compound cwæð đã dæge derived dialect Dictionary diphthong distinct ealle earlier early east Midland eorl euery excerpt fifteenth century fourteenth century French Godd Godes grammar hath haue hire i-mutation inflexion king kynge language Latin letter linguistic literary London Lord loue luue maner manuscript Middle English noun Old English origin Ormulum past participle Peterborough Chronicle phrase plural prefix present tense preterite pronoun pronunciation recorded Scandinavian seide sense seventeenth century seyde shal singular sixteenth speech spelling swā third-person thou translation verb Vespasian Psalter vnto vowel vpon wæron wæs West Saxon wið wingeard word wordis writing written Wycliffite yogh þā þæm þæs þæt þan þat þatt þer þet þey þing þis þurh þus