The Cambridge History of the English Language

This volume of the Cambridge History of the English Language encompasses three centuries of immense cultural change, from Caxton in the late Middle Ages to the American Declaration of Independence and the beginnings of Romanticism. During this period, Middle English became Early Modern English and then developed into the early stages of indisputably "modern" English. This book traces developments in orthography and punctuation, phonology and morphology, syntax, lexis and semantics, regional and social variation, and the literary language. It also contains a glossary of linguistic terms and an extensive bibliography.

• Covers the whole of Early Modern English, together with its Middle English origins and the beginnings of the modern language as we know it today
• Spans the period from Caxton to the American Declaration of Independence, the late middle ages to the beginnings of Romanticism
• The editor is a renowned historical linguist and leads a distinguished team of contributors