Further reading

3 Syntax

Throughout this chapter, heavy use has gratefully been made of CHEL 1 to 4, in particular the chapters on syntax by Traugott (1992) for OE, Fischer (1992) for ME, Rissanen (1999a) for eModE and Denison (1998) for late ModE. More detailed explanations and references for further reading can be found there. Here we will mainly refer to work that has appeared after the dates of the various CHEL volumes. Other standard works (and important sources for this chapter) are Mitchell (1985) for OE syntax; Mustanoja (1960) for ME syntax (really on morphology, but containing a lot of syntax); Gorlach¨ (1991) and Barber (1997) for eModE; Gorlach¨ (2001) for eighteenth-century English; Bailey (1996) and Gorlach¨ (1999) for nineteenth-century English; Brunner (1962) for the whole period, especially the relation between morphology and syntax; Visser (1963–73) for a complete historical overview of verbal syntax (including verbal arguments); Denison (1993) for a more recent overview and critical interpretation of this same area; Strang (1970) and Jespersen’s (1909–49) magnum opus for all periods.

For works focussing on the language of individual authors, see several volumes in the Language Library of Blackwell/Andr´ Deutsch. These often contain insightful observations about the relation between an author’s usage and the contemporary language.

Some recent examples of theoretical work grounded in detailed empirical investigation are Warner (1993) on auxiliaries; Pintzuk (1993, 1995) on word order in OE; Kroch & Taylor (1997, 2000) on dialectal differences in early ME syntax; and Los (2005) on infinitives in OE and ME.

4 Vocabulary

Undoubtedly the most authoritative study of English lexical morphology is Marchand (1969). For recent usage and description this is wellsupplemented by the relevant sections in Quirk et al. (1985). There are quite a few books which offer a range of approaches to the topic, and amongst those which may be cited are Bauer (1983, 1988), Dressler (1985) and Lipka (2002). The OED, of course, is a constant source of material, and Finkenstaedt et al. (1970), despite its shortcomings, is also extremely useful. Sch¨afer (1980) provides a useful corrective to the OED’s analysis of the Renaissance period. In the area of lexical semantics Cruse (1986) provides an invaluable overview.

For the origins and development of the language, one general work which has yet to be superseded is Serjeantson (1935), and this work provides an excellent account of the processes of borrowing into English. For the Old English period two works lead the way to others, namely Gneuss (1955) and Schabram (1965). For the Middle English period the material has rarely been offered in other than highly specialised sources not always accessible to the interested reader.

5 Standardisation

For examples of individual attempts at normalisation and standardisation, see Anderson & Britton (1999), Osselton (1984a) and Monaghan (1983). Gotti (1996) analyses the attempts of one writer, Robert Boyle (1627–91), at adapting English vocabulary as a medium suitable for the language of science. An overview of normative studies produced in England since the beginnings of the early modern period may be found in Tieken-Boon van Ostade (2000). Taavitsainen et al. (1999) is a collection of articles on various aspects of the history of non-standard English.

For more information on the grammatical features discussed in Section 5.3.3, see Nevalainen & Raumolin-Brunberg (2003). On Section 5.3.4, see also Gramley (2001), who pays particular attention to words and word meanings used in the national varieties of English around the world. A popular introduction to Estuary English (Section 5.3.7) can be found in Coggle (1993).

6 Names

The indispensable tools for English name study are as follows. On given names, Hanks & Hodges (1990a) is the most reliable recent general guide; especially good on the international dimension, while Dunkling & Gosling (1991) is especially good on modern developments in personal naming. The standard reference work on surnames is Reaney & Wilson (1991), while the only complete modern descriptive history is McKinley (1990). Hey (2000) provides a useful tool for those with a genealogical interest as well as a historical or philological one. Note also the county volumes of the English Surnames Survey, published by Leopard’s Head Press.

The standard reference manual on place-names for over forty years has been Ekwall (1960). Watts (2004), intended to replace it, has many virtues but needs some expertise in its users because of errors and inconsistencies. A compact, reliable guide to scholarly work on names, now in paperback, is Mills (1998). Foundational guides to topographical terms in place-names and to the relation between place-names, history and archaeology are Gelling & Cole (2000) and Gelling (1997), respectively. Field (1993) provides a highly readable general history. For reference there are the county volumes of the Survey of English Place-Names, published at the University of Nottingham.

Improved interpretations of individual place-names, and occasional debunkings, are frequently carried by the journals Nomina and Journal of the English Place-Name Society, as are refinements in the understanding of the regional and demographic sources of particular surnames. These two journals both carry substantial annual bibliographies, and there is an annual report on English onomastics in The Year’s Work in English Studies. For those who do not share Richard

Coates’ scepticism about the value of the study of character-names from an aesthetic or psychoanalytical viewpoint, there is the journal Literary Onomastics. A major general resource for all onomastics, begun in 2005, is the new bibliographical database of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences. The Council also publishes an annual journal Onoma, each issue of which is devoted to a general, as opposed to a regional, theme, such as names in literature, the teaching of onomastics, or name theory (the topics for publication years 2004–6). Onoma and Names, the journal of the American Name Society, are the only truly general journals of onomastics published (at least in part) in English.

7 English in Britain

The fundamental work dealing with dialects in England is Orton (1962–71), namely A Survey of English Dialects, from which many important works have been subsequently derived, in particular dialect atlases based on the material in the SED, such as Orton & Wright (1974) and Orton, Sanderson & Widdowson (1978). The SED continues to flourish and one interesting, more, theoretical work from the SED group is Kirk, Sanderson & Widdowson (1985), which, amongst other things, has chapters on the theory of dialectology as it applies to the SED. The SED, because of its aims and methods, has much of value to offer historical dialectology, and this is explicit in the further related dialect atlas of Kolb et al. (1979). Current work on regional variations partly related to the SED can be found online at the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/

Naturally for historical dialects themselves the indispensable source must be LALME (McIntosh, Samuels & Benskin, 1986) and currently research proceeds on producing parallel material for early Middle English, as noted in Laing (1993). On the same topic the various studies by Kristensson contain much material of interest; see, for example, Kristensson (2001) and his earlier studies in the same project. There is no substantial work available for the Old English period as we await the publication of Kitson’s massive work on Old English charters; see, for example, Kitson (1993). Current views on dialectology in the medieval period can be found in Hogg (forthcoming) and Laing & Lass (forthcoming). For the postmedieval period one necessary work is Ihalainen (1994), and Nevalainen & Raumolin-Brunberg (2003) offer an important sociolinguistic approach which opens promising avenues for success.

Returning to the present day, we can note a variety of essential texts on dialects outside England, such as, for Scotland, Mather & Speitel (1975–86); for Ireland, Filppula (1999); and for Wales, Parry (1977, 1979). There are an enormous number of books on modern varieties of English and it is difficult to pick and choose. However, four works which offer different, yet equally valuable perspectives are Chambers & Trudgill (1998), Francis (1983), Trudgill (1974) and Wakelin (1977).