A Historical Phonology of English

EDINBURGH TEXTBOOKS ON THE ENGLISH LANGAUGE - ADVANCED Series editor: Heinz Giegerich Books in this series provide readers with a detailed description and explanation of key areas of English Language study. The authors presuppose a basic working knowledge of the topic and explore aspects of the linguistics of English for an intermediate or advanced student readership. A Historical Phonology of English Donka Minkova A thorough and fascinating exploration of the evolution of English phonological structure, this book traces the history of individual sounds and their representation through Old, Middle, Early Modern and Present Day English. Written in an engaging and accessible style, the book covers the sounds of English, consonantal histories, Middle English dialects, vowel quality and quantity in Early Modern English, the English stress system and Early English verse forms to demonstrate how the present form of the language is indebted to its past. Students will benefit from the book's: - Clear language and structure - Setting of linguistic findings into historical, literary and social contexts - Explanations of Modern English's phonological features in terms of its development. Donka Minkova is Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. Cover design and illustration: riverdesign.co.uk [EUP logo] www.euppublishing.com

Donka Minkova is Professor of English at UCLA

1. Periods in the History of English; 2. The Phonetic and Phonological Foundations of Sound Change; 3. Some Pre-Old English Changes; 4. Consonants: the OE system; 5. Consonants: from OE to PDE; 6. The Vowels of OE; 7. Transition; 8. Vowel Quality and Quantity in EModE and Later; 9. Focus on Prosody: the Evolution of the English Stress System; 10. The Linguistic History of English Verse Forms.