Dick Leith

English is a language which provides us with fifteen hundred years of evidence bound up in the life of a society. Obviously both the language and the society changed, over the duration. It first emerged, then consolidated, then spun into patterns of change (meanings, grammar, pronunciation), and spread. It is now a "lingua franca" across the world.

The author does not rewrite linguistic history, but fills in the broad framework by introducing sociolinguistic insights. This highlights both the show more English language and society, illuminating both with research. show less

I got this book out of the library because I was hoping that it would serve as a good general introduction (or in my case, refresher course) on the English language. It is an OU course book and I was aware of that when I took it out. Unfortunately, as a book for a general reader, it left quite a lot to be desired and it didn't really inspire me to take the course. For general English language writing, David Crystal's books are as informative and more palatable to the casual reader. For more show more specific interest areas, I would recommend taking out a specialist text on sociolinguistics or history of English. There are many that are better written than this offering. show less

An introductory text made up of essays by various writers. It would probably be considerable more useful (and interesting) in a course context than it is to the general reader. The multiple authorship creates a scattershot impression, and the frequent pauses for "activities" reminds one (as does the rather plodding prose) that this belongs in a classroom. There are several more engaging and better-written books on the topic. This does, however, have lots of useful information if you are show more determined to dig it out, so enthusiasts may want to look through it. show less