Blake N. The Cambridge history of the English language. Volume 2. 1066-1476

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. — XXI + 676 p.The Cambridge History of the English Language is the first multivolume work to provide a comprehensive and authoritative account of the history of English from its beginnings to its presentday world-wide use. Its coverage embraces not only areas of central linguistic interest such as syntax, but also more specialised topics such as personal and place names. Whereas the volumes concerned with the English language in England are organised on a chronological basis, the English of the rest of the world is treated geographically to emphasise the spread of English over the last three hundred years.
Volume II covers the Middle English period, approximately 1066-1476, and describes and analyses developments in the language from the Norman Conquest to the introduction of printing. This period witnessed important features like the assimilation of French and emergence of a standard variety of English. There are chapters on phonology and morphology, syntax, dialectology, lexis and semantics, literary language and onomastics. Each chapter concludes with a section on further reading; and the volume as a whole is supported by an extensive glossary of linguistic terms and a comprehensive bibliography. The chapters are written by specialists who are familiar both with the period of the volume and with modern approaches to the study of historical linguistics. The volume will be welcomed by specialists and non-specialists alike and it will remain the standard account of Middle English for many years to come.Volume 1
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6