A History of the English Language

by Albert C. Baugh, Thomas Cable

Comprehensive and balanced, this classic exploration of the history of the English language combines internal linguistic history and external cultural history from the Middle Ages to the present. The emphasis is on political, social and cultural forces that affect language.

The fifth edition reflects the latest trends and statistics of the past 10 years in a revised and updated Chapter One, "English Present and Future." It also provides a new section on gender issues and linguistic change and includes a thorough revision of Chapter 11, "The English Language in America," including updated material on African American Vernacular English. Discusses Black English and varieties of English in both Africa and Asia, as well as varieties in the United States, Australia and Canada. Includes a map of American dialects. Provides examples of twentieth-century vocabulary.

For multilingual readers or anyone who wishes to develop a well-rounded understanding of present-day English.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Language, Linguistics, Reference, School, Academic

463 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Dr. Albert Croll Baugh, College 1912; Ph.D. English, 1916; and Honorary Doctorate in 1961, Chaired the University of Pennsylvania Department of English, and received many accolades, including the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Dr. Baugh's scholarship is still much in use at the Penn Library—from his 1935 study of the history of the English language to his 1968 bibliography of Chaucer studies.

Reviews

[Autum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hands down one of the most stressful classes of my life.

[Nadja · Rating 4 out of 5]

unlike my professor, this book actually makes sense

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic, highly detailed overview of the history of the English language in which I learned some surprising things, such as:

--"they," "their," and "them," our plural pronouns, were a Scandinavian (specifically Danish) import. Old English conjugated them as "hie," "hiera," "him."

--In fact, the Danish invasions of England prior to the Norman Conquest probably contributed a lot more to our loss of inflection (word endings) than the French influence on our language ever did. While we "borrowed" a lot of words from the Norman French, we adapted our syntax to the Scandinavian model, so that our language became much simpler in terms of inflection compared to say, German or Latin.

--Also, Middle English grew out of a lack of regulation/caring on the part of the Norman invaders, who kept speaking their own version of French while the English middle/lower classes spoke a rapidly evolving (and unchecked) form of English.

--We can thank the 18th century (Enlightenment period) for many of our more restrictive grammar rules of today; for instance, "lay"/lie," "between you and I," "between/among," "different from" versus "different than," etc. This was also the period in which a grammarian named Robert Lowth condemned the double-negative, a construction often used by Shakespeare, but now deemed grammatically incorrect (as though English were equivalent to algebra!)

--When a grammarian makes people stick to certain grammatical rules, this is called "prescriptive grammar."

-- Prescriptivists like to assert rules for everything, from how a word should be used based on its etymology to how it should be used based on its usage in Greek or Latin, and even to how it should appear based on analogy (for example, if you write "backwards" and "forwards," you should also write "afterwards" and "homewards.") Gah, I kind of detest these 18th century guys. They ruin all the fun that writers like Shakespeare had with English--Shakespeare, who molded the tongue like clay, coining and using more words than almost anyone else in the Elizabethan period.

Basically, this text confirms that English is an ever-changing, ever-living language, growing and morphing, adapting and revising itself according to the needs and circumstances of those who speak it. What lives cannot be contained; it can only be described in each successive moment of its appearance--that's our language, and we should be proud that whatever grammatical boxes we place it in, it always manages to break out of.

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book cycles through the entire history of the English language, from the proto-Indo European start to its modern day variations. For everyone who thinks that our language is as simple as "English is a mix of German and French," you have SO much to learn. A favorite non-fiction.

[Jessica Hatchigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for a college course (and basically had to memorize the contents). It was one of my most challenging - and rewarding - classes. Baugh shows how language is elastic, bending and changing and morphing as time, history and cultural influences force and/or influence written and verbal exchanges.

[Marcella · Rating 2 out of 5]

10% informative, 90% snooze fest.

[Est · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very informative

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book; I wish I had the latest edition rather than this edition from the early 1990's. The language has changed since the introduction of the Internet and texting which wasn't an issue at the time this version came out. I think I may have had this version since it was new, though. I just now got around to reading it in it's entirety.

Very informative. Some chapters were more interesting than others. I liked the chapters on Old English and also on American English.

Always something to learn, so I keep expanding my knowledge of my own langauge. Languages are alive and amazing.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in a college class and really enjoyed it. It might be a bit dry to read in its entirety, but pick it up for some fascinating anecdotes about the history of our language.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book three times in one semester as an undergrad in the 1980s for a really hard class. I LOVED IT--both the class and the book.

[George King · Rating 5 out of 5]

My college text--and still the standard by which others must be measured. The complexity of the English language is a thing of beauty.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly easy-to-read but detailed account of the whole history of the English language, divided into three parts: Old, Middle, and Modern English.

[Krystie Herndon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An old college textbook sitting around our house, with a topic I find interesting. Not COMPLETELY readable, for pleasure reading, having way too many technical sections to be light reading, but still, not bad. My favorite sections were the historical sections from old English to the Renaissance.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

If, for any reason, you find yourself wanting or needing to read Baugh and Cable's A History of the English Language, I'd advise you against using the Sixth Edition. It blurs details that earlier editions are much more clear about, re-arranges chapters that were better organized before, and since it doesn't address really recent evolutions in the language, you really aren't missing anything by using an earlier, clearer edition. The sixth one just isn't great.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gives a really in-depth view of all the cultural and political influences that shaped the English language to what it is today. Kind of nice to read if you have the time and interest for these kind of things.

[Erica Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally a book I had to read for college - but if you ever said, "Why is this a word?" then this book is fun. And if you are nerdy - this book is fun.

[Relaynie]

English language,linguistics

[Ashley Holstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the few history books I've actually enjoyed. It starts at the very beginning of English language and goes up to today-ish and English in America. A wonderful read.

[Rao Javed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Syllabus book...always hate them.

[Scott Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered how grammar and vocabulary have evolved over time? This book is for those (like me) who wish to understand the history of the English language. This textbook is perhaps the greatest work of its kind. It covers the evolution from Old English to Middle English, from the Renaissance to modern usage worldwide.

Baugh and Cable’s tale is not simple, but then again, neither is English’s. The language, rooted in the British isles, borrowed heavily from French after the Norman Invasion in 1066. Under the influence of academic scholarship in conversation with the European continent, it also borrowed heavily from Latin. More recently, worldwide, post-colonial use in far-flung places like America, India, and Egypt have decentralized use so that each region borrows from the other. (In other words, there is currently no one group, even in England, that can claim to hold “true English” usage.)

There are several nuggets that I found interesting in this book. Many of the regional differences in American pronunciation stem from where in England colonists immigrated from. English dialects vary more dramatically from region to region than do American dialects – presumably because Americans interact with each other more and migrate more often. Spelling reforms continued until into the twentieth century and were seen as a form of efficiency. English is known for having a liberal policy towards vocabulary but conservative towards grammar. No matter how much they are hated, language purists seem to haunt every age in every region.

Because it is written as a critical historical examination, this work is most used pedagogically as a textbook in classrooms. Only the occasional lifelong student would read this book cover-to-cover for mere self-education. Nonetheless, it reads well and breaks down the subject matter into short numbered sections in each chapter. This work has helped me make sense of the diverse world that the English language provides to us in literature and over the Internet.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even to one who is not a student of history or linguistics, this book is accessible, and from it I learnt a lot. It is unsurprising that it is known as a standard text of the history of the English Language. Its chronological approach is appropriate, and feels very much like a well-crafted narrative that takes you on a flight from Celtic times, roaming over Beowulf, to Chaucer's Cantebury Tales, to Shakespeare. A highly enjoyable read which I would recommend to anyone who possesses the slightest of interest in our cosmopolitan language.

[a · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow for my degree in English I was never taught anything about the history of the language. They just handed us Chaucer and Shakespeare and expected us to pick it up. And yes that worked well enough, but looking back I think I could have read Middle and Early Modern texts much much more confidently if I had just been asked to read this book, which presents succinctly but very thoroughly the sound shifts and changes in grammar and usage that have occurred over the course of the language's history, and without going into too much detail provides the historical context necessary to understand the factors which influenced these shifts.

I read the 1978 edition, which contains attitudes that have for good reason been mostly abandoned in current scholarship, but which are interesting to read if only for their strangeness. Most interestingly to me, the authors seem to hope fervently and seriously that English will one day become a "world language," a language spoken by everyone in the world. "How much pleasanter travel would be if we did not have to contend with the inconveniences of a foreign language. How much more readily we could conduct our business abroad if there were but a single language of trade. How greatly would the problem of the scientist and the scholar be simplified if there were one universal language of learning. And how many misunderstandings and prejudices that divide nations would be avoided, how much the peace of the world would be promoted if there were free interchange of national thought and feeling" (ch. 1, p. 6-7).

[Freedom · Rating 4 out of 5]

"English is its propensity for acquiring new identities, its power of assimilation, its
adaptability for ‘decolonization’ as a language, its manifestation in a range of varieties,
and above all its suitability as a flexible medium for literary and other types of creativity
across languages and cultures."


I'm studying English literature and I liked this book.

[Lucu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is really good for if you're doing a related degree or college subject - not only is great for references, but also it has really nice arrangment for ease of access - I thoroughly reccomend buying it because it is really helpful - and only a few things are different to the newer edition, so no need to pay more for it!

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

LOTS of information about the history concerning the English language, but the authors have a tendency to just write massive lists of words rather than explaining concepts in depth. I'd absolutely recommend it for those interested, but it's not a very engaging read.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very in depth review of the history of English Language. It was required reading in my favorite undergraduate course of the same name. I occasionally read through sections even many years after the course.

[Ella Hobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will start by admitting that I didn’t read every single chapter, but I did get through the majority and learned quite a lot. This is a thorough, thought-provoking examination of the history of English as a language, as well as a detailed look at how the language is connected to culture.

[Sami Grace Donnelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting content but the structure of the book sucked. It was extremely hard to follow without diagrams or charts, which are pretty necessary when teaching a language. Nevertheless, I enjoyed all the fun facts and random trivia I gained from this book. Onto the next.

[Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea why I marked this to read while I actually read and studied it four years ago. Wonderful book

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very comprehensive look at the English language from an academic standpoint. It was really interesting and I enjoyed seeing how the history we learned in school impacted the language we speak.