A Biography of the English Language

I was fortunate to have Celia Millward as a professor at Boston University. This book was the textbook for her own class on the history of the English language. The book offers an excellent history of the English language that I think any English speaker would find simply fascinating. We use this language every day, so it is interesting to know where it came from! It is also very readable and enjoyable--Mrs. Millward's wit and humor comes across as strongly as her knowledge as an authority on the subject. I highly recommend it.

I used this text in a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga "History of the English Language" course for English majors. Millward does a wonderful job of explaining the information and her examples are recognizable and helpful. you will find yourself reading part out loud as you try and discover your own language usage. In fact, I think I would have enjoyed this book even reading it on my own. Language History is not explored enough, and this is a great text with which to begin

This book was one of the first books to turn me onto the field of Linguistics. --BUT-- you don't need to be a linguist to enjoy this book. All you need is a curiosity in the history of the English language. Suddenly, all the crazy "rules" of grammar, and the seemingly senseless spelling of many words start to make sense. It is fascinating to see how the language has evolved, and you learn to appreciate the nature of language.

For anyone interested in historical linguistics, Millward's textbook is the first you should read. Her dry sense of humor livens even the most dense chapters on inner history and spelling reform. The book is intended to serve as a text for a graduate course on the history of English, and it is useful for both experienced linguists as well as those who have no prior coursework in linguistics. The text begins with chapters on language, phonology, and writing to provide the novice with background on linguistics, phonology, and phonemic transcription. The chapters that follow on Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Present Day English have dense, but easy to read, overviews of both inner and outer history of the language. Millward intersperses humorous vignettes with her main text and heightens the reader's appreciation for the language