Note: This is the 2009 version of an older edition posted in
This volume of Studies in English Language focuses on the nineteenth
century, an important period of both stability and change for the English
language. Through ten detailed case studies, it highlights the
relationships between English, its users, and nineteenth-century society,
looking particularly at gender differences and variation across genres. It
also discusses major structural aspects of nineteenth-century English, such
as nouns, verbs and adjectives, and Germanic vs. Romance vocabulary.
Although the nineteenth century is often viewed as a relatively stable
period in the development of the language, this volume shows the 1800s to
be a time of significant change, some of which continued into the twentieth
century. By making comparisons possible with both earlier and later
periods, it makes an important contribution to our overall understanding of
the history of the English language.