A Cultural History of the English Language

This book offers a new approach to the history of English. Contemporary linguistic research
in various areas - ranging from discourse analysis and stylistics to
literacy and the study of pidgins and creoles - raises new historical
questions. Access to large corpora of English has in recent years
enabled scholars to assess the minutiae of linguistic change in much
greater detail than before, and consequently the timing and
interpretation of events is having to be reconsidered. Furthermore, the
focus of interest in a history of the language is rather different in
the 1990s than it was a decade and more ago, and this book reflects
this shift.


The author does not make a direct attempt to chronicle changes in syntax or pronunciation and spelling,
but the book is designed to complement a corpus-based study of formal
changes. It also traces change in the language on a broader front and
in its social andcultural context. The story of English is brought up
to the late 1990s to include, amongst other things, discussions of
Estuary English and the implications of the information superhighway.