What is English? And Why Should We Care?

What is English? Can we be as certain as we usually are when we say something is not English? To find some answers Tim Machan explores the language's present and past, and looks ahead to its futures among the one and a half billion people who speak it. His search is fascinating and important, for definitions of English have influenced education and law in many countries and helped shape the identities of those who live in them.

Finding an account that fits the constantly changing varieties of English is, Tim Machan finds, anything but simple. But he rises to the challenge, grappling with its elusive essence through episodes in its history. He looks at the ambitions of Caxton, the preoccupations of Johnson, and the eloquence of Churchill, tussles with the jargons of contemporary business, and pursues his object from rural America to James Cook's Australia. He examines creoles, pidgins, and dialects, and takes apart competing histories showing their assumptions and prejudices. Finally he reveals the stable category English, resting paradoxically within its constantly mutating forms and varieties.

This is a book for everyone interested in English and the role of language in society and culture.

Tim Machan is Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. His books include English in the Middle Ages and Language Anxiety published by Oxford University Press in 2003 and 2009 respectively.

Part One: The Consequences of Definition
1. The River of English
Part Two: English by the Books
2. Words in the Shape of English
3. When Words Die
4. Space and Time
5. The Genius of our Tongue
Part Three: English in Action
6. English for the English
7. Beyond Britain
8. English in the South Seas
9. English in the Classroom, I: American Indian Boarding Schools
10. English in the Classroom, II: Industrial English
11. The English-speaking Peoples
Part Four: Beyond English
12. Defining Moments
Notes
Bibliography
Index