A linguistic History of English

This book surveys the major linguistic and social changes which shaped the English language. It begins with the Proto-Indo-European common ancestor, goes through Old English and Middle English providing illustrations of the changes with authentic texts, and finishes with Early Modern English. The text is written for advanced non-native students of English who are curious to find out how from some obscure Germanic dialects spoken in an abandoned Roman colony on the edge of Europe a new global language evolved.