AUTHOR: Singh, Ishtla TITLE: The history of English SUBTITLE: A student’s guide PUBLISHER: Hodder Arnold YEAR: 2005 First published: https://linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-293.html (27 Jan. 2006) Stefan Dollinger, Department of English, University of Vienna DESCRIPTION Ishtla Singh’s compact paperback volume is a recent addition to the textbook pool on the origins and development of English. As such, it joins a number of one-volume textbooks on the topic published in recent years, such as Fennell (2001), Moessner (2003), Crystal (2004), Brinton and Arnovick (2006), Hogg and Denison (eds.) (2006), and testifies to the vibrancy of the discipline and to a growing demand for concise, up-to-date historical accounts of one of today’s most widely- used languages. Singh’s book covers the development of English from its Indo-European roots to very recent developments, including the spread of English as a lingua franca in international present-day contexts, on little more than 200 pages. Aimed at “students of literature as well as linguistics” (back cover text) it succinctly presents the most important developmental stages and features in six chapters. Chapter (1) introduces basic linguistic concepts and processes (e.g. types of linguistic change and terminology) and is aimed to “complement the period-based framework of later chapters by outlining some of the more common changes” that affected English (p. 5). Singh begins the chronological discussion in chapter (2) with the oldest roots of English, devoting considerable space to the question of the Indo-European homeland and settlement history. The survey is continued in chapters (3) to (6), which respectively focus on Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English and Modern English since 1700. Each chapter includes the external language history (social history), the basic features of the language-internal structure and the major developments of the period. Additionally, the major literary output of the period is briefly discussed in each chapter. The survey attempts to break with a pattern of focus on the two dominant varieties of English in modern times, British or American English, and considers “instead the establishment of English in other colonial varieties” (p. 2). One of Singh’s major aims is to focus on “areas in conventional histories where ‘orthodox beliefs’ and approaches could make room for updated and/or somewhat different perspectives” (p. 2), which finds its most explicit expressions in four sections on select aspects of the language history. In Old English, special attention is paid to grammatical vs. natural gender, in Middle English, a review of arguments for and against creolization is offered, while the developments of English in Barbados serves as an example in the Early Modern English period and English in Singapore in the post-1700 chapter. The main features of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary are presented in the usual manner in the respective sections, except in the chapter