"Bedazzles you with an eye-popping presentation of the cluck-clucking of the mother tongue. If you like fireworks with your information, this is a worthwhile language book."

--William Safire, The New York Times Magazine

"The Cambridge Encyclopedia of English Language is perhaps the most brilliant book of the past ten years."

--Globe and Mail

"This is more than an encyclopedia; it is also a compendium of wonderful anecdotes and illustrations. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language should be at the top of the list for purchases in all library language/literature collections."

--Reference Book Review

"The clear and spirited text is stunning, enhanced with over 500 illustrations, making this a particularly rich reference work and a browser's dream...Crystal has created an attractive and readable work for the lay reader as well as the specialist."

--Library Journal

"Contains a monstrous amount of information on a fascinating topic arranged in a clear, concise, and, above all, entertaining manner--a dangerous combination indeed, and one that can only lead to uncontrollable reading binges lasting hours or perhaps days."

--Quill & Quire

Publisher Web Site, August, 2003

Rarely has a book so packed with accurate and well researched factual information been so widely read and popularly acclaimed. This Second Edition of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language has been fully revised for a new generation of language-lovers. The book is longer and includes extensive new material on world English and Internet English, in addition to completely updated statistics, further reading suggestions and other references. First Edition Hb (1995): 0-521-40179-8 First Edition Pb (1997): 0-521-59655-6 David Crystal is a leading authority on language, and author of many books, including most recently Shakespeare's Words (Penguin, 2002), Language and the Internet (Cambridge, 2001) and Language Death (Cambridge, 2000). An internationally renowned writer, journal editor, lecturer and broadcaster, he received an Order of the British Empire in 1995 for his services to 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.