Alessandra Molinari
LS – A.A. 2007/08
Germanic Philology
Reading Old English Texts –
A Bibliographic Survey on Anglo-Saxon Studies
Studies on Historical Linguistics
(Companions to Historical Linguistics)
Campbell, Lyle (1998; 2004), Historical Linguistics. An Introduction, Edinburgh : Edinburgh
University Press
(Campbell 22004: xiii) “A number of historical linguistic textbooks exist, but this one is different. Most other talk about
historical linguistics; they may illustrate concepts and describe methods, and perhaps discuss theoretical issues, but they
do not focus on how to do historical linguistics. A major goal of this book is to present an accessible, hands-on
introduction to historical linguistics which does not just talk about the topics, but shows how to apply the procedures,
how to thing about the issues and, in general, how to do what historical linguists do. To this end, this text contains
abundant examples and exercises to which students can apply the principles and procedures in order to learn for
themselves how to ‘do’ historical linguistics. This text differs also by integrating topics now generally considered
important to the field but which are often lacking in other historical linguistics textbooks; these include syntactic
change, grammaticalization, sociolinguistic contributions to linguistic change, distant genetic relationships (how to
show that language are related), areal linguistics and linguistic prehistory.”
Histories of the English Language
Baugh, Albert C. and Cable, Thomas (41993), A History of the English Language, London :
Routledge
From Baugh’s (1935) first edition, quoted in Cable’s (41993) Preface: “The present book, intended primarily for college
students, aims to present the historical development of English in such a way as to preserve a proper balance between
what may be called internal history – sounds and inflections – and external history – the political, social, and intellectual
forces that have determined the course of that development at different periods. The writer is convinced that the
soundest basis for an understanding of present-day English and for an enlightened attitude towards questions affecting
the language today is a knowledge of the path which it has pursued in becoming what it is. For this reason equal
attention has been paid to its earlier and its later stages.”
Hogg, Richard, ed. (1992), The Cambridge History of the English Language, vol. I: The Beginnings
to 1066, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. The place of English in Germanic and Indo-European; 3. Phonology and Morphology; 4.
Syntax; 5. Semantics and vocabulary; 6. Old English dialects; 7. Onomastics; 8. Literary language
(Hogg 1992: xvf.) “Under the influence of the Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure, there has been, during this
century, a persistent tendency to view the study of language as having two discrete parts: (i) synchronic, where a
language is studied from the point of view of one moment in time; (ii) diachronic, where a language is studied from a
historical perspective. It might therefore be supposed that this present work is purely diachronic. But this is not so. One
crucial principle which guides The Cambridge History of the English Language is that synchrony and diachrony are
intertwined, and that a satisfactory understanding of English (or any other language) cannot be achieved on the basis of
one of these alone. Consider, for example, the (synchronic) fact that English, when compared with other languages, has
some rather infrequent or unusual characteristics. Thus, in the area of vocabulary, English has an exceptionally high
number of words borrowed from other languages (French, the Scandinavian languages, American Indian languages,
Italian, the languages of Northern India and so on); in syntax a common construction is the use of do in forming
questions (e.g. Do you like cheese?), a type of construction not often found in other languages; in morphology English
has relatively few inflections, at least compared with the majority of other European languages; in phonology the
number of diphtongs as against the number of vowels in English is notably high. In other words, synchronically,
English can be seen to be in some respects rather unusual. But in order to understand such facts we need to look at the
history of the language; it is often only there that an explanation can be found. And that is what this work attempts to
do.
This raises another issue. A quasi-Darwinian approach to English might attempt to account for its widespread use by
claiming that somehow English is more suited, better adapted, to use as an international language that others. But that is
nonsense. Enlish is no more fit than, say, Spanish or Chinese. The reasons for the spread of English are political,
cultural and economic rather than linguistic. So too are the reasons for such linguistic elements within English as the
high number of borrowed words. This History, therefore, is based as much upon political, cultural and economic factors
as linguistic ones, and it will be noted that the major historical divisions between volumes are based upon the former
type of events (the Norman Conquest, the spread of printing, the declaration of independence by the U.S.A., rather than
the latter type.”
Lass, Roger (1994), Old English. A Historical Linguistic Companion, Cambridge : Cambridge
University Press
Lass (1994: *guardia): “Old English is a companion to Old English studies and to historical studies of early English in
general. It is also an introduction to Indo-European studies in the particular sense in which they underpin the history of
English. Professor Roger Lass makes accessible in a linguistically up-to-date and readable form the Indo-European and
Germanic background to Old English, as well as what can be reconstructed about the resulting state of Old English
itself. His book is a bridge between the more elementary Old English grammars and the major philological grammars
and recent interpretations of the Old English data.
A further and important aim of Old English is to encourage a view of the language as emerging from and implicated in
a complex and ancient background, carrying in its structure relics of a long history. The phonology, morphology,
morphophonology and some aspects of its syntax are, therefore, viewed from a wide historical perspective. The features
of the language are seen partly as backward-looking to Indo-European and German, partly as forward-looking to later
stages of English, as well as constituting the synchronic structure of Old English itself.”
Smith, Jeremy (1996), An Historical Study of English. Function, Form and Change, London and
New York : Routledge
Smith (1996: *guardia): “Through his analysis of selected major developments in the history of English, Jeremy Smith
argues that the history of the language can only be understood from a dynamic perspective. In this book, he proposes
that internal linguistic mechanism for language change cannot be meaningfully explained in isolation or without
reference to external linguistic factors.” {major issues: theory and methodology of linguistic historiography; case
studies on some changes in writing systems, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary}. {braces: my statements}
Old English Grammars
Quirk, Randolph and Wrenn, C.L. (21957), An Old English Grammar, London : Routledge
Quirk & Wrenn (21957: vii)“This Grammar is designed especially for the literary student of English, who has long been
neglected in favour of his philologically inclined collegue and who is felt to be in need of a single compact grammar
which will put the emphasis where he needs it most and serve as a companion to all his undergraduate studies in Old
English.”
Smith, Jeremy J. (1999), Essentials of Early English, London and New York : Routledge
(Smith 1999: xi): “This book is designed as a practical handbook for students beginning the study of earlier stages of
the English language, whose eventual aim is to proceed to more advanced work on the history of English, or on earlier
English literature, or on both.
Histories of Medieval England
Saul, Nigel, ed. (1997), The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England, Oxford : Oxford
University Press
Blair, Peter Hunter (21977), An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England, Cambridge : Cambridge
University Press
Useful internet addresses
IPA fonts:
http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts/encore-ipa.html