English begins at Jamestown : narrating the history of a language / Tim William Machan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Machan, Tim William, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--History.

English language.

English language--Historiography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (259 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2022]

Summary:

'English Begins at Jamestown' explores how people tell and have told the story of English, from its Indo-European origins to its present-day status as a global language. It shows that there are better, worse, and wrong ways to relate the language's history, even if there cannot necessarily be one correct way.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Writing the history of English

1.1 Biography of a language

1.2 The singularity of English

1.3 The importance of narrative

1.4 The present book

2. Theocratic linguistics

2.1 Building on Babel

2.2 Civic dreams

2.3 The promise and threat of Global English

2.4 English agonistes

3. Using English

3.1 Literary linguistics

3.2 The genius of English

3.3 A Norwegian case study

3.4 Languages that lunch

4. Families and friends

4.1 English as a Germanic language

4.2 Continuity through change

4.3 What, if anything, was Old English?

4.4 When three historical periods are not enough

5. A grammar of change

5.1 Data make the difference

5.2 M. C. Escher and historical phonology

5.3 The materiality of medieval language

5.4 The Uniformitarian Principle

6. When speakers make the difference

6.1 Jamestown

6.2 Whose language?

6.3 The past perfect

Works cited

Index.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2022.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on November 1, 2022).

Other Format:

Print version: Machan, Tim William English Begins at Jamestown

ISBN:

9780191881527

019188152X

9780192585349

0192585347

9780192874917

0192874918