This collection of text extracts provides an invaluable resource for working directly with non-literary informal English of the Early Modern period. The book is organised into eight thematic sections: private diaries; personal daybooks and accounts; autobiographical material; letters; personal documents (wills and contracts); official documents by naive writers; records of spoken evidence given in court; and records of speech forming the basis of Court cases. Texts are arranged by type and ea...

An up-to-date introduction to language acquisition for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in linguistics and cognitive science

An introduction to Early Modern English, this book helps students of English and linguistics to place the language of the period 1500-1700 in its historical context as a language with a common core but also as one which varies across time, regionally and socially, and according to register. The volume focuses on the structure of what contemporaries called the General Dialect - its spelling, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation - and on its dialectal origins. The book also discusses the langu...

Lyle Campbell presents an accessible, hands-on introduction to historical linguistics. The fourth edition has a lucid and engaging style, expert guidance and comprehensive coverage, making it ideal for students coming to historical linguistics for the first time.

Combining perspectives from discourse analysis and sociolinguistics, the second edition of this popular textbook provides students with a comprehensive, up-to-date and critical overview of the field of intercultural communication. Ingrid Piller explains communication in context using two main approaches. The first treats cultural identity, difference and similarity as discursive constructions.

The second, informed by bilingualism studies, highlights the use and prestige of different languages...