The Stories of English, page 81
Salisbury Psalter 541
sanitized texts 216
Saxon (dialect) 19
Saxon, Old 59, 80
Saxons 16–23, 27
Scandinavian see Old Norse
schools
in medieval London 231
language curriculum 523–34
scribal 52–3
science fiction 510
scientific language
in Early Modern English 289
in Middle English 157, 171–2, 235
in Modern English 454–7
in Old English 8
scop 92–3
Scots (language) 5, 75, 204–5, 385, 405, 409
in Early Modern English 298–9, 298–9, 338, 544
in Middle English 199, 201, 202–6, 218, 252
in Modern English 488–90
standard 298, 488–9
Ulster 199, 418
Scots (people) 15, 203, 438
Scottish Chaucerians 183, 206, 298
Scottish Gaelic 160, 203, 205
scribes 27–8, 41, 48, 50, 55–6, 110–16, 134, 145, 167, 184, 195, 211, 215, 226, 229–31, 242
scriptoria 41, 108, 110, 134, 198
norms 43, 47, 195, 229
scriveners see scribes
Sea Grammar 357
sentences, elaborate 158–9, 179
Sermo in festis Sancta Mariae uirginis 107
‘Sermon of Wolf to the English’ 98–9
shall/will 399
Shepheardes Calender, The 291, 293, 342, 354
Shipton, etymology 69
Shoemaker’s Holiday, The 349
Short History of English, A 5
Short Introduction of Grammar, A 266
Short Introduction to English Grammar 275, 396
signatures (printing) 257
silent letters 268
simplicity, false notion of 388–91
Singapore 446, 502–3, 508, 522
Singlish 522
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 146, 195, 199, 542
Sketches of American Policy 420
Skipton, etymology 69
slang 8–9, 224, 351, 373
slavery 436–7, 445
Slavic 81
smileys 519–20
Social Fetich, The 551
social networks 230–31, 260, 368, 371, 458
Society for Pure English 507
Society of Friends 310
sociolinguistics 13–14, 53, 86, 177, 187, 230, 324, 386, 418, 529, 539, 545, 553
principles 529–31
Sonnets (Shakespeare) 319
‘Sonny’s Lettah’ 505–6
South African English 29, 440–43, 458–9
South Asian English 443–4, 503–4
South Bank Show, The 546
South-East Asia 446–7
South-Eastern (Middle English) 201–2, 210–13, 243
Southern (American) 431–2
Southern (Early Modern English) 264–5, 298
Southern (Middle English) see South-Western (Middle English)
South Pacific 446
Southumbrian 52
South-Western (Middle English) 129, 200–202, 204, 208–10, 243–4, 247, 252
Spanish 58, 161, 297, 300, 433, 459–60, 522
Speculum vitae 131
spellchecking 215, 263, 393
spelling 3, 70, 224–5, 303, 381, 393–5, 476–9, 489, 501, 544
in Early Modern English 258–71, 299, 303, 337, 348–9
in Middle English 113–14, 196, 210–11, 226–7, 235–8, 242, 257–8
in Modern English 53, 141, 423–4, 476–9, 489, 530
in Old English 38–43, 50
nonstandard 353, 450, 481, 485–6, 497–501, 521
pronunciation and 41–3, 251–2, 270, 287, 353, 392, 403, 422, 450, 467, 500–501
reform 196–7, 266–9, 299, 374, 423–4, 549
showing etymology 156, 268, 270
split infinitives 224, 249, 402–3, 465, 483, 527
‘Spring Cleaning’ 504, 552
stability in English 3, 365–87
standard 1, 6, 222, 224–5, 234, 237, 263, 349, 351–3, 386, 392–3, 479, 485–6, 508–9, 516, 530
continuum 418, 530–33
dialect 194, 222, 225–6, 338
incipient 237
in speech and writing 224–5, 254–5, 403
Standard English 1–12, 173, 258, 262, 502, 508, 553
emergence of 3, 56, 194–5, 215–16, 222–48, 254, 258, 337, 369–73, 379–87, 392–414, 419, 479, 485–6, 488–9, 523, 533
regional 12–13, 425, 435, 506, 517–18, 522, 531
spoken 254, 530, 553
variation 7–11, 223–4, 303, 475, 479, 508, 548
Stationers’ Company 231
Statutes of Kilkenny 202
stereotypes (dialect) 346, 349, 356, 363–4, 368, 410, 450, 473, 480, 493, 498
stigmatized features 247
stone, etymology 198–9
Story of an African Farm 441–3
Strange Newes 379
stress in words see accentuation
Strother 164
stylistics 187
stylistic variation 8, 10–11, 88, 96, 462, 474–5, 526
in Early Modern English 289–90, 304–5, 312–13
in Middle English 169–89
in Old English 53, 86–100
substandard 338, 534
suffixes 149–50, 290, 303–4, 314, 456–7, 542
‘Sumer is icumen in’ 108–9, 541
Sun, The 315–16, 349, 481, 516, 553
Survey of English Dialects 492
survival of the fittest (lexical) 293–4, 315
Sussex (kingdom) 22–4, 26
Swahili 460
Swedish English 507
swearing 177, 215
Sylva 389
synonyms 88–92, 151–2, 180, 289
syntax 43–4, 48, 100–104, 118–19, 158–9, 229, 382, 392, 450–51, 482–3, 495–6
Systems of Prosodic and Paralinguistic Features in English 550
Table Alphabeticall, A 266, 280–84, 291
taboo words 8, 108, 178, 180–81, 543–4
Tagalog 522
Taglish 522
Tamil 302
Taming of the Shrew, The 319, 331–2
Tam O’Shanter 199
taxation 140, 232
‘Taximan’s Story, The’ 502
tea, usage 370
technology and language 517–23
telephone 518
television language 11, 518
Tempest, The 319, 326, 331
Tess of the D’Urbervilles 498, 552
Testament of Love, The 132, 174–5, 191
Tex-Mex 522
text-messaging 263, 458, 518, 521
-th ending in verbs 166, 209–11
thesaurus, historical 294
thou vs you 307–10, 450, 487
Three Hundred Years War 204
Three Little Pigs, The 93
thwart, etymology 161
Tibetan 302
Timber 291, 548
Timon of Athens 319, 333
Titus Andronicus 319, 331
tolerance 216
Towneley Mystery Plays 160, 199, 200
trade 21, 60, 78, 122, 244, 296
transcription
of dialects 345–7, 493–4
of manuscripts 110–16, 334–7
phonetic 415
translations in Caxton 258–9
transliteration 477
Treatise on the Astrolabe 150, 157
triangle of influence 201, 217
tribe, notion of 18
triglossia 128, 522
trilingualism in Britain 121–39, 227, 280, 542
Trinity Homilies 107, 198, 541
triplets, lexical 187–9
Troilus and Cressida 305, 319, 331–2, 366–7
Troilus and Criseyde 172, 205, 226, 315
troubadours 136
trouvères 136
Troy Book 157, 176
True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The 93
‘Tummus and Mary’ 492–3
Turkish 302, 459
‘twa dogs, The’ 488
Twelfth Night 309, 319, 323, 331
Two Gentlemen of Verona, The 290, 319, 331
Two Noble Kinsmen 305, 319, 332–3, 546
Tyndale’s Bible 271–2
typesetters 185, 256–8, 261, 364
un-, use of 304–5
‘Uncle Ben’s Choice’ 502–3
uniformitarianism 14
United States of America 419–34, 508
population growth 427–9
Universal Etymological English Dictionary 380
universities, first 135
unstressed syllables see accentuation
Urdu loanwords 459
usage
governed by custom 268–9, 395, 413, 491
manuals 8, 224, 254, 474–5, 525
Usage and Abusage 475
variation 10–11, 86, 211, 214–15, 224, 384, 386, 407, 474, 529
in Middle English 169–89, 211
in Modern English 7–14, 474–9, 489, 529–31
in Old English 15–28, 50–3, 55, 86–100
see also dialect
variety, first use 359
Venus and Adonis 319
verbs 43, 77, 218–21, 463
auxiliary 250, 350, 399, 463, 481, 512
infinitive 250
irregular 166, 275–6, 482, 548
nonstandard 481, 496, 500, 512, 551
progressive forms 250
tenses 482, 500, 512
verses 89
Vespasian Psalter 35–6, 38, 42
Vikings see Danes
Vocabularium Saxonicum 355
vocabulary see lexicon
Vocal Sounds 417
Voice, The 504
voices, literary 487
voicing 220, 345, 362–4
vowel length 196–8, 251–2, 269
Vox and the Wolf, The 199
Wakefield Mystery Plays 156, 182, 247
Wales in Middle Ages 202, 544
Wanderer, The 90–91
Warner Arundell 437–8
Wearmouth 17
weather-forecasting language 11
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 317, 455
Wedmore, Treaty of 70
Wee Magic Stane 199
weight of clause information 103
well, use of 177, 190–93, 543
Weller, Sam 410, 497, 549
Welsh 29–32, 160, 275, 287, 340
Wessex 22, 24, 26, 38, 66–7, 82
in Thomas Hardy 486–7
West African English 444–6
West Country 345, 429
Western (American) 431–2
West Midlands 52, 195, 198, 200–202, 210, 212–13, 218
West Saxon 3, 34–9, 42, 44–7, 51–2, 202
as standard 54–6, 72, 82, 85, 195
early vs late 52, 54–59
wh- spellings 141–2
wh- vs w- (pronunciation) 410, 466
Wife of Bath’s Tale, The 215, 542
will/shall 399
Wiltshire dialect literature 493
Wiltshire Tales 551
Winchester 3, 38, 51–2, 56, 72, 82, 85, 195
words 52–3
Winter’s Tale, The 319, 331, 333, 361
Wit and Science 345, 347
word counts 315–29
limitations of 329
word formation see morphology
word order 43–4, 48, 100, 158
between Old and Middle English 100–104, 118–19, 250
words to serve the mind 288–9, 311, 348
World English 13, 508
World of Errors Discovered, A 380–81
World Wide Web 335, 519
Writers of Court Letter 230
writing, introduction of 27
writ of William I 122
Wuthering Heights 496, 498, 552
y- (prefix) 166
y’all 449–52
Year Books 152
Yiddish 460
York Mystery Plays 157, 182–3, 200, 239
Yorkshire dialect 498, 517
Yorkshire Dialect Society 492
you (pronoun)see thou vs you
9 black-and-white illustrations, 12 maps
The English language is now accepted as the lingua franca of the modern age. But how did it evolve? How did a language spoken originally by a few thousand Anglo-Saxons become one used by over a quarter of the human race?
The Stories of English is a groundbreaking and entertaining history of the language by David Crystal, the world-renowned writer and commentator on English. Crystal turns the history of English on its head and provides a startlingly original view of where the richness, creativity, and diversity of the language truly lies—in the accents and dialects of nonstandard English users all over the world. Whatever their regional, social, or ethnic background, each group has a story worth telling, whether it is in Scotland or Canada, South Africa or the United States.
Interwoven within this central chronological story are accounts of uses of dialect around the world and examples taken from current popular culture as well as literary classics.
“[Crystal] traces the development of the language in all its quirks and historical oddities. He is an engaging tour guide, and a gifted teacher.”
—WILLIAM GRIMES, The New York Times
“A fabulous overview, by the greatest scholar in the field, of how English prospered because of its freedom to mutate in different ethnic and geographic circumstances. (Note that plural.)”
—CARLIN ROMANO, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“This new history of the English language in all its manifestations is among the best ever written, and is both entertaining and informative.”
—STEVEN PINKER, AUTHOR OF The Language Instinct
“A marvelous book, and for anyone who loves the English language(s)—or anyone who feels the faintest twitch of interest in the subject—it will be a treasure-house.”
—PHILIP PULLMAN
DAVID CRYSTAL is a leading authority on language and co-author, with Ben Crystal, of The Shakespeare Miscellany. His other books include Shakespeare’s Words, Language and the Internet, and Language Death. A professor of linguistics, he also received an Order of the British Empire in 1995 for his services to the English language.
Also available: THE Shakespeare MISCELLANY
David Crystal, The Stories of English
