This chapter discusses the place of English within the Germanic language family and the broader Indo-European language family. It examines the kinds of evidence that have been used to reconstruct these language families, discussing the importance of regular sound changes and the vocabulary of the descendant languages. The key concepts of genetic inheritance, language contact, and divergence and convergence are also defined with reference to these language families, and the chapter discusses some of the key movements of peoples in the Migration Age. Some key linguistic features of Proto-Germanic are then discussed, such as its inflexional morphology, phonology, and lexis.

In this chapter, we take the perspective of the sociology of language, focusing first on language maintenance and shift in historical settings. We then expand the discussion to include issues of language vitality and of reversing language shift, based on examples for seventeenth-century Dunkirk and twentieth-century Constantinople. A more general perspective of language policy and planning is subsequently developed, including crucial notions such as status planning, corpus planning and language-in-education planning. Examples and case studies are taken from a variety of languages, including Hebrew and Dutch. The Dutch case also serves to illustrate language planning at the level of the nation, and as a function of historical nationalism. The final part of the chapter addresses isssues such as language conflict, the invisibilisation of languages, both in discourse and in practice, and linguistic genocide. We discuss examples from the Habsburg Empire, Belgium, the German–Danish–Frisian area and the Menominee people in Wisconsin.

This chapter discusses the Middle English period, considering the historical events that influenced the language and its speakers from 1066 to around 1500 and the development of the language during this period. The influence of French on Middle English is discussed, including lexical and orthographic changes. The chapter also considers the development of Middle English dialects and the movements towards a new standard form of the language towards the end of the period. Middle English phonology and inflexional morphology are outlined, together with some key syntactic features, and the chapter then provides specimen passages of very early Middle English and fourteenth-century English, together with commentary. The chapter closes with a discussion of Middle Scots, outlining key features of the language and its development and providing a specimen passage.

This chapter deals with changes between 1700 and 1900. It begins with analysis of a text from 1711 to illustrate the differences between the English of this period and the present day. There are sections on spelling and punctuation; standardization, codification, and prescriptivism; the verb system (the progressive in particular); phonological change and Received Pronunciation; and scientific vocabulary and lexical innovation more broadly, including an account of the methods of word formation. The importance of corpora and other electronic resources for research into the language of this period is discussed, and the chapter draws on these resources and research based on them.

In this chapter, we focus on the meso- and micro-levels of social organisation, below the macro-levels discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. We first discuss social network theory, including crucial concepts such as ties, density and multiplexity, and explain the relationship with innovation diffusion and norm enforcement. We then explore to what extent social network theory can be applied to historical situations, distinguishing between functional and emotional ties. Examples and case studies of historical network studies are taken from English and Afrikaans. The chapter also discusses related models such as coalitions and communities, in particular, communities of practice, text communities and discourse communities. The final part of the chapter addresses individual variation and style shifting on the basis of examples from English and German data.

This chapter concentrates on changes in English between 1500 and 1700. An account of lexical innovation during this period presents evidence from the Oxford English Dictionary. The dominance of Latin as a source of intellectual vocabulary is discussed along with the backlash against ‘inkhorn terms’, but evidence of loans from other languages and word formation within English is also presented. Changes in pronunciation including the Great Vowel Shift are outlined, with an account of the methods used to reconstruct earlier pronunciation. An extract from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 is examined to illustrate changes in morphology and syntax. A note on regional variation concludes the chapter.

This chapter begins with a historical account of the expansion of English. Theoretical models of world Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca are outlined. The role of language contact in the development of world Englishes is discussed, along with the nature of pidgins and creoles. A section deals with controversies about the use of English, especially in education, in former British colonies. Differences in phonology, grammar, and vocabulary among some of the major varieties of English are outlined. The section on vocabulary uses evidence from the Oxford English Dictionary and notes the recent restoration of Indigenous place names in several countries.

In this chapter, we elaborate on the sociolinguistic theory introduced in Chapter 1, focusing on variationist approaches that correlate language and society. We introduce the theory of language change developed by Weinreich et al. (1968), which encompasses the contraints problem, the transition problem, the embedding problem, the evaluation problem and the actuation problem. We then discuss social macro-categories such as social rank, gender, age and generations, arguing that detailed sociohistorical evidence is needed for establishing these categories in order to prevent an anachronistic approach to sociolinguistic history. Literacy, education and writing experience are discussed as highly relevant social factors for the sociolinguistic analysis of linguistic history. Case studies are taken from French and Dutch. The chapter ends by describing the variationist approach as the first of three waves of sociolinguistics.