favourite English history/general intro texts

[Matthew Gordon]

When I teach History of English, I use Brinton and Arnovick's "The English
Language: A Linguistic History" (OUP). I used to use Milward's book but it's
pretty out of date (and print?) now. The Brinton and Arnovick book may be
too thick and chewy for the class your relative is teaching. Since you
describe it as a course on the history and structure of the language and an
intro to linguistics, you might think about something like "How English
Works" by Anne Curzan and Michael (previously 'on notice') Adams. It's much
more of an intro to the current structure of English but it has two chapters
on the history of the language.

-Matt Gordon


On 7/30/08 10:52 PM, "James Harbeck" <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA> wrote:

> If you were teaching a course on the history and structure of the
> English language, basically an introduction to linguistics and the
> history of English for third- and fourth-year students for whom the
> course will likely be the only linguistics course they take, what
> text would you use? (I won't be, but someone I'm related to will;
> he's been out of academe for some time and so is brushing up on
> what's currently preferred for such uses, and I said I'd ask around
> too.) The one text I can think of is Algeo and Pyles, though I'm not
> sure whether the balance of focus in it is just right for the
> specific course in question. And O'Grady doesn't really cover
> history. Plus this is a one-semester course.
>
> Thanks,
> James Harbeck.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org