Before the present author ever became associated with Albert C. Baugh's A History of the English Language, several
generations of teachers and students had appreciated its enduring qualities. Not least of these, and often remarked
upon, was the full attention paid to the historical and cultural setting of the development of the language. This
original emphasis has made it possible for subsequent editions to include discussions of current issues and varieties
of English in ways that could not have been specifically foreseen in 1935. The fifth edition continues this updating
by expanding the sections on African American Varnacular English and Hispanic American English, adding a section
on Gender Issues and Linguistic Change, and incorporating small changes throughout. Once again global events have
affected global English and necessitated revisions, especially in the first and last chapters. Baugh's original
text was supported by footnotes and bibliographies that not only acknowledged the sources of his narrative but
also pointed directions for further study and research. In each successive edition new references have been added.
To avoid documentary growth, sprawl, and incoherence by simple accretion, the present edition eliminates a number
of references that have clearly been susperseded. At the same time it keeps many that might not usually be consulted
by students in order to give a sense of the foundations and progress of the study of the subject.
In the first edition Baugh stated his aim as follows:
The present book, intended primarily for college students, aims to present the historical development of English
in such a way as to preserve a proper balance between what may be called internal history-- sounds and inflections--and
external history--the political, social, and intellectual forces that have determined the course of that development
at different periods. The writer is convinced that the soundest basis for an understanding of present-day English
and for an enlightened attitude towards questions affecting the language today is a knowledge of the path which
it has pursued in becoming what it is. For this reason equal attention has been paid to its earlier and its later
stages.
As in previous editions, the original plan and purpose have not been altered.
The various developments of linguistic inquiry and theory during the half century after the History's original
publication have made parts of its, exposition seem to some readers overly traditional. However, a history presented
through the lens of a single theory is narrow when the theory is current, and dated when the theory is superseded.
Numerous other histories of English have made intelligent use of a particular theory of phonemics, or of a specific
version of syntactic deep and surface structure, or of variable rules, or of other ideas that have come and gone.
There is nothing hostile to an overall linguistic theory or to new discoveries in Baugh's original work, but its
format allows the easy adjustment of separable parts.
It is a pity that a new preface by convention loses the expression of thanks to colleagues whose suggestions
made the previous edition a better book. The fifth edition has especially benefited from astute comments by Traugott
Lawler and William Kretzschrnar. The author as ever is sustained by the cartoonist perspective of Carole Cable,
who he trusts will find nothing in the present effort to serve as grist for her gentle satiric mill.
T.C.
Summary
For courses in the History of the English Language (English Composition).
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. Students are encouraged to develop both
an understanding of present-day English and an enlightened attitude toward questions affecting the language today.
Table of Contents
1. English Present and Future.
2. The Indo-European Family of Languages.
3. Old English.
4. Foreign Influences on Old English.
5. The Norman Conquest and the Subjection of English, 1066-1200.
6. The Re-Establishment of English, 1200-1500.
7. Middle English.
8. The Renaissance, 1500-1650.
9. The Appeal to Authority, 1650-1800.
10. The Nineteenth Century and After.
11. The English Language in America.
Appendix A: Specimens of the Middle English Dialects.
Appendix B: English Spelling.
Index.
