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.

This chapter explains the sections of the Act and the common law principles governing the admission of opinion evidence. Critical to understanding the opinion rule is understanding what an ‘opinion’ is: this triggers the application of the rules on the exclusion or admission of such evidence.

The regulation of opinion evidence under pt 3.3 (ss 76–80) is relatively simple. Nonetheless, these rules have raised subtle problems in practice. Because of its inferential nature, opinion evidence is, in principle, excluded by s 76. However, exceptions are set out in ss 77–9.

This chapter thus explains opinion evidence, the exclusion of opinion evidence, the exceptional admission of opinion evidence and the scope of application of the opinion rule. In order to be admissible, an opinion must rationally affect, either directly or indirectly, the probability of a fact in issue in the proceedings, thus satisfying the requirements of s 55.

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.

This chapter introduces the theory of sociolinguistics using concepts such as variation, inherent variability, social meaning, real and apparent time, and the S-curve. We argue for the importance of a sociolinguistic approach to language history, and introduce key concepts used in historical sociolinguistics such as literacy and the bad data problem. We also dicuss the need for sociohistorical baseline evidence to reconstruct social orders and hierarchies in the past. Two case studies are discussed, which illustrate the applicability of sociolinguistic theories and methods to historical data by demonstrating the social embedding of ongoing changes in historical English, and the role of social mobility and social aspirers in these changes.

This chapter first discusses to what extent we can find attitudes in historical contexts. Whereas explicit attitudes can be culled from metalinguistic texts, implicit attitudes may be reconstructed on the basis of variation in language use, for example, in the use of pronouns versus full noun phrases. Such discursive patterns are signs of indexicality, which can be seen as the linguistic form of more intangible language ideologies. The chapter then introduces main concepts from language ideological theory, such as erasure and iconisation. Distinguishing between language myths and language ideologies, we discuss a range of examples, such as the myth of polite language and the standard language ideology. A number of case studies, including purism in the German metalinguistic tradition, linguistic debates about antiquity and ethnicity in Early Modern Spain, and the establishment of Luxembourgish as a national language, are used to further illustrate key concepts and approaches.

Traditional language histories have often focused narrowly on formal printed texts, produced by educated elite men from urban social elites, largely neglecting the everyday language practices of ordinary people. This chapter introduces the perspective of language history from below, where we shift our focus to these often-overlooked voices, in order to arrive at a fuller and more complete understanding of historical language variation and change. We discuss the challenges faced by investigations of the everyday language of ordinary people, including difficulties in determining actual authorship and interpreting texts produced through delegated writing. Based on case studies and examples from a range of different historical and linguistic contexts, we show how examining ego-documents such as private letters and diaries from lower social ranks can reveal valuable insights and complement and at times even correct our existing view of language histories.

This chapter explains the rule against hearsay and its exceptions. First, it sets out what hearsay is and some of the common law cases that contributed to its development. It then explains how hearsay is defined under the Act. This chapter then proceeds to explain the various uses for which evidence may be adduced and the different exceptions available under the Act. It is important to note that facts in issue and facts relevant to facts in issue are critical to understanding the purposes behind tendering hearsay evidence.

Hearsay evidence relies not on direct witness testimony but on another witness’s statement about a ‘previous representation’. The person who makes the out-of-court assertion is called the ‘declarant’ or maker of the statement. The rationale for developing the rule against hearsay at common law was that these out-of-court previous representations were usually made by a person whose evidence was not available to be tested. The main concern at common law was whether such evidence was reliable. The witness giving the hearsay evidence could be cross-examined about what they perceived, but the credibility of the maker of the statement could not be tested.

This chapter is intended for readers who have not had any experience of linguistics and provides the necessary background for studying the history of English. It introduces the nature and structure of language in general, but with an emphasis on English. There are sections on phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, semantics, and pragmatics. The terminology required for the study of language is defined and explained throughout. To illustrate historical change in English, the chapter concludes with the comparison and discussion of extracts from translations of the Bible going back from the twentieth to the eleventh centuries.

Changes in social structure often lead to mobility and migration. Urbanisation is one important outcome of mobility and migration. Mobility, migration and urbanisation lead to dialect contact, that is, between speakers of mutually intelligible varieties. This chapter first introduces general concepts such as diffusion and supralocalisation, and then moves on to discuss sociolinguistic models developed for the analysis of dialect contact, including the theories of koineisation and new-dialect formation, based on principles such as accommodation and salience. Case studies are taken from medieval Spain, Early Modern New Mexico and twentieth-century Norway. The chapter also addresses the role of new speakers in contact situations, based on an example from sixteenth-century Tuscany, and ends with a short discussion of sociolinguistic typology.