基本説明
Burchfield studies a resilient yet flexible language that has undergone sweeping changes, transforming it from the relative uniformity of Anglo-Saxon to multi-facted English spoken throughout the world today. There is a substantial epilogue by John Simpson.
Full Description
'The English language is like a fleet of juggernaut trucks that goes on regardless.' In this fascinating book, Robert Burchfield, editor of the four-volume Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, expertly stresses both the resilience and flexibility of the English language, tracing its history from the 5th century AD to the present day. From the days of runes to the origins of printing, through social, religious, political and industrial change in the eighteenth century, through the rise of the British Empire and the development of world English, and into the twentieth-century, the English language has undergone sweeping changes. 'the best brief survey I have read on the development of English' Anthony Burgess; 'an expert, absorbing guide to the English-speaking world's biggest asset' Sunday Times; 'It can be recommended without reservation to all who are sensitive to the subtlety, richness and power of the language they speak' British Book News; 'so skilfully written that it must surely take a place among the best three or four books ever written about our language' Birmingham Post
Contents
PREFACE; CONTENTS; LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS; ABBREVIATIONS; PHONETIC SYMBOLS; 1. Some Preliminary Considerations; 2. From Runes to Printing; 3. From William Caxton to George Washington: 1476 to 1776; 4. The Disjunctive Period: 1776 to the Present Day; 5. Literature, Ritualistic Works, and the Language; 6. The Recording of English in Dictionaries and Grammars; 7. Vocabulary; 8. Pronunciation and Spelling; 9. The Syntactical Arrangement of Words; 10. Dispersed Forms of English; AFTERWORD; NOTES; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX
