Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

This Companion to the History of the English Language represents a somewhat unusual entry in the Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture series, for this is not fundamentally a book about literature. We nevertheless expect our edition will complement the study of English-based literature and culture in a productive way, especially given the tendency since the middle of the last century for students of English studies to focus on criticism of modern literature, contemporary theory, and cultural phenomena. Our aim is to offer those working with literary and cultural material a fuller perspective on language, one that enhances their interests in the light of the history of the English language (HEL) as it has been researched and studied for more than a century. To this end, the current volume reflects contemporary concerns with colonialism and post-colonialism, race and gender, imperialism and globalization, and Anglophone cultures and literatures, but approaches these contemporary issues from a historical perspective with special attention paid to the role played by language. In this introduction we will contextualize HEL studies in today's world so that we may create a framework within which to read the 58 essays that follow.In 1712, Jonathan Swift, the satirist and author of Gulliver's Travels, wrote his “Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue,” ... log in or subscribe to read full text