This practical and informative course book leads the student through the development of the language from Old English, through Middle and Early Modern English to the establishment of Standard English in the eighteenth century. This third edition has been expanded to provide more guidance and background information for students. New sections have also been added to outline the development of writing hands and provide a brief introduction to palaeography. The book also now has a fully integrated supplemental website.

Preface to the third edition p. ix
Preface to the second edition p. xi
Symbols p. xiv
Texts and facsimiles p. xv
Acknowledgements p. xxii
Introduction p. 1
English today p. 1
Studying variety across time in language p. 2
How has the English language changed? p. 2
How can we learn about Old English and later changes in the language? p. 4
Changes of meaning - the semantic level p. 4
The English Language is Brought to Britain p. 11
Roman Britain p. 11
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle p. 11
How the English language came to Britain p. 14
Old English I p. 25
Written Old English p. 25
The development of writing hands (i) p. 27
Dialects and political boundaries p. 40
Danish and Norwegian Vikings p. 42
Effects of Viking settlement on the English language p. 52
The Norman Conquest p. 57
Old English II p. 61
The language of Old English poetry p. 61
OE prose p. 67
OE grammar p. 72
Latin loan-words in OE p. 78
ON loan-words in OE p. 81
Early French loan-words p. 82
From Old English to Middle English p. 83
The evidence for linguistic change p. 83
The Norman Conquest and the English language p. 84
The earliest 12th-century Middle English text p. 89
The book called Ormulum p. 96
12th-century loan-words p. 106
Early Middle English - 12th Century p. 108
Evidence of language change from late OE to early ME in La[subscript 3]gamon's Brut p. 108
The Owl & the Nightingale p. 133
Early Middle English - 13th Century p. 137
The Fox and the Wolf p. 137
The South English Legendary p. 138
A guide for anchoresses p. 144
The development of writing hands (ii) - from the 11th to the 13th centuries p. 146
Three medieval lyrics p. 149
The Bestiary p. 151
The Lay of Havelok the Dane p. 156
Early 13th-century loan-words, 1200-49 p. 158
Northern and Southern Texts Compared p. 161
Cursor Mundi - a history of the world p. 161
Later 13th-century loan-words, 1250-99 (see the Word Book) p. 172
The 14th Century - Southern and Kentish Dialects p. 173
The dialect areas of Middle English p. 173
How to describe dialect differences p. 179
A South-Eastern, or Kentish dialect p. 180
An early South-West dialect p. 187
A later 14th-century South-West dialect p. 190
14th-century loan-words, (see the Word Book) p. 195
The 14th Century - Northern Dialects p. 196
A 14th-century Scots dialect p. 196
Another Northern dialect - York p. 200
The York Plays p. 204
Northern and Midlands dialects compared p. 211
Chaucer and the Northern dialect p. 213
Loan-words 1320-39 (see the Word Book) p. 215
The 14th Century - West Midlands Dialects p. 216
A North-West Midlands dialect - Sir Gawayn and [Th]e Grene Knyzt p. 216
A South-West Midlands dialect - Piers Plowman p. 216
Loan-words 1340-59 (see the Word Book) p. 233
The 14th Century - East Midlands and London Dialects p. 234
The origins of present-day Standard English p. 234
The development of writing hands (iii) - the 14th century p. 235
A South-East Midlands dialect - Mandeville's Travels p. 237
The London dialect - Thomas Usk p. 239
Loan-words 1360-79 (see the Word Book) p. 241
The London Dialect - Chaucer, Late 14th Century p. 242
Chaucer's prose writing p. 242
Chaucer's verse p. 245
Editing a text p. 250
Loan-words 1380-99 (see the Word Book) p. 254
Early Modern English I - The 15th Century p. 255
The beginnings of a standard language p. 255
The development of writing hands (iv) - the 15th century p. 256
Chancery English p. 261
Early 15th-century East Midland dialect - The Boke of Margery Kempe p. 263
Later 15th-century East Midland dialect - the Paston letters p. 267
Late 15th-century London English - William Caxton p. 270
The medieval tales of King Arthur p. 277
Late 15th-century London dialect - the Cely letters p. 280
15th-century loan-words (see the Word Book) p. 286
Early Modern English II - The 16th Century (I) p. 287
The development of writing ands (v) - the 16th century p. 287
The Lisle Letters p. 289
Formal prose in the 1530s p. 297
A different view on new words p. 303
John Hart's An Orthographie p. 304
The Great Vowel Shift p. 308
Punctuation in 16th-century texts p. 318
Loan-words 1500-49 (see the Word Book) p. 318
Early Modern English III - The 16th Century (II) p. 319
The development of the standard language p. 319
Evidence for some 16th-century varieties of English p. 322
English at the end of the 16th century p. 330
Loan-words 1550-99 (see the Word Book) p. 333
Early Modern English IV - The 17th Century (I) p. 334
Evidence for changes in pronunciation p. 334
Sir Thomas Browne p. 338
The development of writing hands (vi) - the 17th century p. 344
George Fox's Journal p. 349
John Milton p. 355
John Evelyn's Diary p. 357
The Royal Society and prose style p. 360
Loan-words 1600-49 (see the Word Book) p. 363
Early Modern English V - The 17th Century (II) p. 364
John Bunyan p. 364
Spelling and pronunciation at the end of the 17th century p. 367
John Dryden p. 378
North Riding Yorkshire dialect in the 1680s p. 383
Loan-words 1650-99 (see the Word Book) p. 385
Modern English - The 18th Century p. 386
Correcting, improving and ascertaining the language p. 386
Dr Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language p. 391
The perfection of the language p. 393
'The Genius of the Language' p. 394
Bishop Lowth's Grammar p. 395
'The depraved language of the common People' p. 398
'Propriety & perspicuity of language' p. 399
Language and social class p. 405
William Cobbett and the politics of language p. 410
18th-century loan-words (see the Word Book) p. 415
From Old English to Modern English - Comparing Historical Texts p. 416
Commentary on Text 173 p. 417
'Your accent gives you away!' p. 419
Postscript - To the Present Day p. 428
Some developments in the standard language since the 18th century p. 428
The continuity of prescriptive judgements on language use p. 430
The grammar of spoken English today p. 432
19th & 20th century loan-words (see the Word Book) p. 434
Bibliography p. 435
Index p. 438