A Companion to the History of the English Language

This Companion brings together more than 60 distinguished contributors to offer a wide-ranging survey of the history of the English language, from its Indo-European and Germanic past, through British and American usage, to the rise of colonial and post-colonial English. Many of the essays investigate regional and ethnic varieties and take up issues of class and gender. The book explores the many diverse approaches to the study of English in one volume, ranging from linguistics and etymology to the philosophy of language and literary history. Concise introductions place individual essays within larger contexts; notes on phonetics, a chronological list of events, and a glossary of linguistic terms facilitate use and connect the reader to the uses of the English language over the centuries. A meeting ground for students of language and literature, this broad-ranging volume considers cultural, social, literary, material, and theoretical approaches to the study of language.

Haruko Momma is Associate Professor of English at New York University. She is the author of The Composition of Old English Poetry (1997) and From Philology to English Studies: Language and Culture in the Nineteenth Century (2009).

Michael Matto is Assistant Professor of English and Director of Writing Programs at Adelphi University. He has published articles on Old English language, literature, and culture, and is currently editing (with Greg Delanty) a collection of new literary translations of Old English poems (2009).