List of Figures
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations and Special Symbols
Preface
1 English - the WorkingTongue of the Global Village
English is spoken in circles
The Inner Circle
The Outer Circle
The Expanding Circle
Do we need a world language?
Why English?
One or two explanations
Part I History of an Island Language
2 The First 500 Years
Roman Britain
Ships are sighted with English in embryo on
board
Christianity in the Isles
The Viking age
What was Old English like?
The Lord''s Prayer
Beowulf
Two translations into Modern English
3 1066 and All That
Middle English
An influx of French words
Grammatical endings disappear
Geoffrey Chaucer and William Caxton
Modern English in the Making
The Three ''Rs'' - Renaissance, Reformation,
Restoration
English and Latin
……
Part II The Spread of English around the World
5 English Goes to the New World
6 English Transplanted
7 English Varieties in the British Isles
8 American and British English
9 From Caribbean English to Creole
Part III A Changing Language in Changing Times
10 The Standard Language Today
11 Linguistic Change in Progress:Back to the Inner
Circle
12 English into the Future
Notes:Comments and References
References
Index of People
Index of Topics
Pronunciation