A Linguistic History of English: From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199552290 ISBN 13: 9780199552290

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

Synopsis

This book describes the earliest reconstructable stages of the prehistory of English. It outlines the grammar of Proto-Indo-European, considers the changes by which one dialect of that prehistoric language developed into Proto-Germanic, and provides a detailed account of the grammar of Proto-Germanic. The focus throughout the book is on linguistic structure. In the course of his exposition Professor Ringe draws on a long tradition of work on many languages, including Hittite, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Slavic, Gothic, and Old Norse. Written to be intelligible to those with a background in modern linguistic theory, the first volume in Don Ringe's A Linguistic History of English will be of central interest to all scholars and students of comparative Indo-European and Germanic linguistics, the history of English, and historical linguists.

The next volume in the History will consider the development of Proto-Germanic into Old English. Subsequent volumes will describe the attested history of English from the Anglo-Saxon era to the present.

About this title

About the Author:

Don Ringe is Kahn Endowed Term Professor in Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of numerous publications on comparative Indo-European linguistics, historical linguistics, and computational cladistics, including On the Chronology of Sound Changes in Tocharian.

Review:

This is a highly welcome and useful book for scholars and advanced students of comparative Indo-European and Germanic linguistics and the history of English... I await with anticipation the second volume... * David Stifter, Linguistlist *

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0199552290
• ISBN 13: 9780199552290
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 355
• Editor: Ringe Donald