Historical Linguistics and the History of English : A Systemic Functional Approach

Investigating the gamut of changes that occurred in the course of the English language’s development, Historical Linguistics and the History of English analyses its metamorphosis scaffolded by systemic functional linguistics.

Providing an introductory model for the historical description of languages within the systemic functional framework, English professor Michael Cummings utilizes the history of English as a guiding exemplar. At the centre of the model are the historical relationships among successive states of semantics and of lexico-grammar. He takes the reader through a systemic functional analysis of their own modern English and introduces analyses of the historical dialects, while noting differences and similarities. Each successive chapter begins with an analysis of a type of grammatical unit in modern English, then continues with corresponding analyses through the historical dialects Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English. The types of grammatical units covered are the nominal group, the verbal group, the interpersonal clause, the experiential clause, and the textual clause.

Historical Linguistics and the History of English is a vital introduction to the history of the English language from a systemic functional perspective and will be of interest to scholars and students at all levels.