Preface to the third edition Preface to the second edition Symbols Texts and facsimiles Acknowledgements 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 English today 1.2 Studying variety across time in language 1.3 How has the English language changed? 1.4 How can we learn about Old English and later changes in the language? 1.5 Changes of meaning - the semantic level 2 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS BROUGHT TO BRITAIN 2.1 Roman Britain 2.2 Tbe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 2.3 How the English language came to Britain 3 OLD ENGLISH （I） 3.1 Written Old English 3.2 The development of writing hands （i） 3.3 Dialects and political boundaries 3.4 Danish and Norwegian Vikings 3.5 Effects of Viking settlement on the English language 3.6 The Norman Conquest 4 OLD ENGLISH （11） 4.1 The language of Old English poetry 4.2 OE prose 4.3 OE grammar 4.4 Latin loan-words in OE 4.5 ON loan-words in OE 4.6 Early French loan-words 5 FROM OLD ENGLISH TO MIDDLE ENGLISH 5.1 The evidence for linguistic change 5.2 The Norman Conquest and the English language 5.3 The earliest 12th-century Middle English text 5.4 The book called Ormulum 5.5 12th-century loan-words 6 EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH - 12TH CENTURY 6.1 Evidence of language change from late OE to early ME in La3amons Brut 6.2 The Owl & the Nightingale 7 EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH - 13TH CENTURY 7.1 The Fox and the Wolf 7.2 The South English Legendary 7.3 A guide for anchoresses 7.4 The development of writing hands （ii） - from the llth to the 13th centuries 7.5 Three medieval lyrics 7.6 The Bestiary 7.7 The Lay of Havelok tbe Dane 7.8 Early 13th-century loan-words, 1200——49 8 NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN TEXTS COMPARED 8.1 Cursor Mundi - a history of the world 8.2 Later 13th-century loan-words, 1250-99 （see the Word Book） 9 THE 14TH CENTURY- SOUTHERN AND KENTISH DIALECTS 9.1 The dialect areas of Middle English 9.2 How to describe dialect differences 9.3 A South-Eastern, or Kentish dialect 9.4 An early South-West dialect 9.5 A later 14th-century South-West dialect 9.6 14th-century loan-words （see the Word Book） 10 THE 14TH CENTURY- NORTHERN DIALECTS 10.1 A 14th-century Scots dialect 10.2 Another Northern dialect - York 10.3 The York Plays 10.4 Northern and Midlands dialects compared 10.5 Chaucer and the Northern dialect 10.6 Loan-words, 1320-39 （see the Word Book） 11 THE 14TH CENTURY- WEST MIDLANDS DIALECTS 11.1 A North-West Midlands dialect- Sir Gawayn and ]~e Grene Kny3t 11.2 A South-West Midlands dialect - Piers Plowman 11.3 Loan-words, 1340-59 （see the Word Book） 12 THE 14TH CENTURY - EAST MIDLANDS AND LONDON DIALECTS 12.1 The origins of present-day Standard English 12.2 The development of writing hands （iii） - the 14th century 12.3 A South-East Midlands dialect - Mandevilles Travels 12.4 The London dialect - Thomas Usk 12.5 Loan-words, 1360-79 （see the Word Book） 13 THE LONDON DIALECT - CHAUCER, LATE 14TH CENTURY 13.1 Chaucers prose writing 13.2 Chaucers verse 13.3 Editing a text 13.4 Loan-words, 1380-99 （see the Word Book） 14 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH I - THE 15TH CENTURY 14.1 The beginnings of a standard language 14.2 The development of writing hands （iv） - the 15th century 14.3 Chancery English 14.4 Early 15th-century East Midland dialect - The Boke of Margery Kempe 14.5 Later 15th-century East Midland dialect - the Paston letters 14.6 Late 15th-century London English - William Caxton 14.7 The medieval tales of King Arthur 14.8 Late 15th-century London dialect - the Cely letters 14.9 15tb-century loan-words （see the Word Book） 15 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH II - THE 16TH CENTURY （I） 15.1 The development of writing hands （v） - the 16th century 15.2 The Lisle Letters 15.3 Formal prose in the 1530s 15.4 A different view on new words 15.5 John Harts An Ortbographie 15.6 The Great Vowel Shift 15.7 Punctuation in 16th-century texts 15.7 Loan-words, 1500-49 （see the Word Book） 16 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH Ill - THE 16TH CENTURY （11） 16.1 The development of the standard language 16.2 Evidence for some 16th-century varieties of English 16.3 English at the end of the 16th century 16.4 Loan-words, 1550-99 （see the Word Book） 17 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH IV - THE 17TH CENTURY （I） 17.1 Evidence for changes in pronunciation 17.2 Sir Thomas Browne 17.3 The development of writing hands （vi） - the 17th century 17.4 George Foxs Journal 17.5 John Milton 17.6 John Evelyns Diary 17.7 The Royal Society and prose style 17.8 Loan-words, 1600——49 （see the Word Book） 18 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH V- THE 17TH CENTURY （11） 18.1 John Bunyan 18.2 Spelling and pronunciation at the end of the 17th century 18.3 John Dryden 18.4 North Riding Yorkshire dialect in the 1680s 18.5 Loan-words, 1650——99 （see the Word Book） 19 MODERN ENGLISH - THE 18TH CENTURY 19.1 Correcting, improving and ascertaining the language 19.2 Dr Johnsons Dictionary of the English Language 19.3 The perfection of the language 19.4 The Genius of the Language 19.5 Bishop Lowths Grammar 19.6 The depraved language of the common people 19.7 Propriety & perspicuity of language 19.8 Language and social class 19.9 William Cobbett and the politics of language 19.10 18th-century loan-words （see the Word Book） 20 FROM OLD ENGLISH TO MODERN ENGLISH - COMPARING HISTORICAL TEXTS 20.1 Commentary on Text 173 20.2 Your accent gives you away! 21 POSTSCRIPT - TO THE PRESENT DAY 21.1 Some developments in the standard language since the 18th century 21.2 The continuity of prescriptive judgements on language use 21.3 The grammar of spoken English today 21.4 19th-&20th-century loan-words （see the Word Book） Bibliography Index