An introduction to early modern English

This is a comprehensive introduction to a key period in the development of English.

An introduction to Early Modern English, this book helps students of English and linguistics to place the language of the period 1500-1700 in its historical context as a language with a common core; but also as one which varies across time, regionally and socially, and according to register.

The volume focuses on the structure of what contemporaries called the General Dialect - its spelling, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation - and on its dialectal origins.

The book also discusses the language situation and linguistic anxieties in England at a time when Latin exerted a strong influence on the rising standard language.