The independent text is based on the Oxford Classical Text with revisions and is accompanied by a selective apparatus.

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.

This chapter explains the sections of the Act and the principles of common law concerning competence and compellability of witnesses and how evidence can be adduced from witnesses. Adducing evidence, in contrast to admitting evidence, refers to the witness giving evidence in court.

This chapter also discusses certain categories of witnesses who are called to give evidence (complainants in sexual assault and rape cases, children, and people who are cognitively impaired) and the special arrangements that have been introduced to alleviate any disadvantage when such witnesses give evidence. The chapter then focuses on one of the most important aspects of our adversarial system – the proving of facts by having witnesses give oral evidence. In court, witnesses are often examined in three stages: examination-in-chief, cross-examination, and re-examination. The chapter explains the rules pertaining to refreshing memory in and out of court and the rule in Browne v Dunn. Finally, it briefly considers adducing documents and other types of evidence.

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.

Tendency and coincidence evidence is a special class of circumstantial evidence. It is used either on its own, or as an adjunct to other forms of evidence for the purpose of showing the accused has/had a tendency to act or think in a certain way or was necessarily involved in a series of events that cannot otherwise be explained. This chapter examines these two categories of evidence and the rules for their admissibility that apply in both civil and criminal proceedings. Part 3.6 of the Act (ss 94–101) regulates and governs the admission of tendency and coincidence evidence.

The chapter will then examine two major thresholds for admission of these types of evidence. First, the evidence must have ‘significant probative value’. This concept is connected to the test of relevance in s 55. Second, where the prosecution is adducing the evidence in criminal proceedings, it must satisfy the additional hurdle of s 101(2): the ‘probative value of the evidence substantially outweighs any prejudicial effect it may have on the defendant’. Finally, the chapter will consider the circumstances where such evidence is admitted for a purpose other than proving tendency or coincidence.