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Article: A History of the English Language.(Brief article)(Book review)
- Article from:
- Contemporary Review
- Article date:
- December 22, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Contemporary Review Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A History of the English Language. Richard Hogg and David Denison, editors. Cambridge University Press. [pounds sterling]75.00 (US$ 140.00). xiii + 495 pages. ISBN 0-531-66227-3. This stimulating collection of essays is aimed at 'senior undergraduates' as well as the general reader and uses some of the same contributors as to the six volumes in Cambridge's History of the English Language (1992-2001). As the world's de facto language--English is the first language of some 400,000,000 people and is spoken by as many as 1,500,000,000--the changes in usages and meanings is on a scale unknown in history. Having said that, it remains an historic language rooted in one place. ...