The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language

Prefaces; 1. Modelling English; Part I. The History of English: 2. The origins of English; 3. Old English; 4. Middle English; 5. Early Modern English; 6. Modern English; 7. World English; Part II. English Vocabulary: 8. The nature of the lexicon; 9. The sources of the lexicon; 10. Etymology; 11. The structure of the lexicon; 12. Lexical dimensions; Part III. English Grammar: 13. Grammatical mythology; 14. The structure of words; 15. Word classes; 16. The structure of sentences; Part IV. Spoken and Written English: 17. The sound system; 18. The writing system; Part V. Using English: 19. Varieties of discourse; 20. Regional variation; 21. Social variation; 22. Personal variation; 23. Electronic variation; Part VI. Learning about English: 24. Learning English as a mother tongue; 25. New ways of studying English; Appendices; Indexes.

Crystal, David
David Crystal is one of the world's foremost authorities on language.

'A delight and a treasure ... David Crystal does a brilliant job of satisfying our curiosity about our mother tongue while illuminating the deepest questions of who we are and where we come from. A magnificent achievement.' Steven Pinker, Harvard 'David Crystal is phenomenal ... This is a prodigious achievement ... The book contains breadth of range, imaginative insight, and deep understanding ... It is pervasively readable and stimulating.' Lord Quirk '... a superb work that manages to be both scholarly and vastly entertaining ... This is a deeply impressive book, for it packs between two covers virtually everything any normal person might care to know about English.' The Washington Post Book World '... bedazzles ... with an eye-popping presentation of ... the mother tongue.' The New York Times '... scholarly and entertaining ... the range, scholarly value, interest, attractiveness and (often) humour of the tables, graphics, illustrations, photographs, colour plates, maps, and quoted material is quite stunning. rarely has serious information been presented so colourfully, so strikingly. A splendid work, essential in all libraries and destined to live a long and useful life.' Reference Reviews 'I have been unable to think of a question this book cannot answer ... I will risk predicting that Professor Crystal will not be superseded much before the message sent into space on Voyager I ... receives an answer.' Times Literary Supplement '... it gives ... the whole history and grammar, all the theory and practice of English with precision, panache and wit.' The Observer '... without a doubt one of the most beautiful and enlightening volumes I have handled in some years.' Western Australia Sunday Times '... an outstanding work ... The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language will surely remain the definite text in the field for some time to come.' fun-with-words.com '...the most diverting, delightful, imaginative and altogether entertaining compilation ever