Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

From Old English to Standard English

A Course Book in Language Variations Across Time

  • Textbook
  • © 1998

Overview

Authors:
  1. Dennis Freeborn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Original text revised, substantially enlarged and reordered
    Text includes a wealth of facsimiles of original documents, increased to 96 in the new edition, making the book an invaluable reference tool
    Book now suitable both for use by A Level and undergraduate students and as a resource book at all levels
    . Students learn to read the original manuscripts and their translations of Old, Middle and Early Modern English up to the present day
    Popularity of the first edition and supplementary text commentary book, now combined in second edition to form a comprehensive, standalone text

Part of the book series: Studies in English Language (SEL)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (23 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 1-8

  3. The English language is brought to Britain

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 9-20

  4. Old English (I)

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 21-54

  5. Old English (II)

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 55-75

  6. From Old English to Middle English

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 76-97

  7. Early Middle English — 12th century

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 98-125

  8. Early Middle English — 13th century

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 126-148

  9. Northern and Southern texts compared

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 149-162

  10. The 14th century — Southern and Kentish dialects

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 163-186

  11. The 14th century — Northern dialects

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 187-206

  12. The 14th century — West Midlands dialects

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 207-223

  13. The 14th century — East Midlands and London dialects

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 224-230

  14. The London dialect — Chaucer, late 14th century

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 231-246

  15. Early Modern English I — the 15th century

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 247-272

  16. Early Modern English II — the 16th century (i)

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 273-304

  17. Early Modern English III — the 16th century (ii)

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 305-321

  18. Early Modern English IV — the 17th century (i)

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 322-351

  19. Early Modern English V — the 17th century (ii)

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 352-375

  20. Modern English — the 18th century

    • Dennis Freeborn
    Pages 376-406
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

A fascinating, visual volume which traces the development of the language from Old English, through Middle and Early Middle English to the establishment of Standard English in the 18th century. The core of the book is a series of nearly two hundred historical texts, of which more than half are reproduced in facsimile, exemplifying the progressive changes in the language. The book is firmly based upon linguistic description, with commentaries forming a series of case studies which demonstrate the evidence for language change at every level - handwriting, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, grammar and meaning.

About the author

DENNIS FREEBORN was Head of Language Studies at the College of Ripon and York St John until 1984, and was Chief Examiner in English Language Studies for the London University Schools Examinations Board. He is the author of A Course Book in English Grammar and Varieties of English.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: From Old English to Standard English

  • Book Subtitle: A Course Book in Language Variations Across Time

  • Authors: Dennis Freeborn

  • Series Title: Studies in English Language

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26665-4

  • Publisher: Red Globe Press London

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies Collection, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Macmillan Publishers Limited 1998

  • Edition Number: 2

  • Number of Pages: XXI, 479

  • Additional Information: Previously published under the imprint Palgrave

  • Topics: Language History

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation