LINGUIST List 34.962
Mon Mar 20 2023
Review: Historical Linguistics, English, General Linguistics: Hejná, Walkden (2022)
Editor for this issue: Maria Lucero Guillen Puon <luceroguillenlinguistlist.org>
Date: 18-Jan-2023
From: Portia Opare <opare
uni-bremen.de>
Subject: A history of English
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AUTHOR: Míša Hejná
AUTHOR: George Walkden
TITLE: A history of English
SERIES TITLE: Textbooks in Language Sciences
PUBLISHER: Language Science Press
YEAR: 2022
REVIEWER: Portia Dede Opare
SUMMARY
Míša Hejná and George Walkden’s “A history of English” is an introductory textbook which focuses primarily on linguistic change and variation in the English Language across history. The book spans the prehistory of English, i.e., before 600CE, to English as we know it in the present-day (1945-present.) In eight engaging chapters, “A history of English” not only addresses how English has changed over time, but also across different linguistic levels – phonetically, phonologically, morphologically, syntactically, lexically, semantically, and pragmatically. The book is intended to be a guide for university students embarking on a single semester’s coursework on the history of the English language. Besides the book’s primary audience, it caters to the needs of teachers as well.
The book addresses several key linguistic issues. Prominent among them are variation, homogeneity and heterogeneity, prescriptivism, standardization, transitions, linguistic contact, and multilingualism. Central among these key themes is linguistic variation and its omnipresence. Variation, the book argues, is omnipresent, inevitable, and perfectly normal. Starting from this premise, the book defends the relevance of studying linguistic variation and the implication such studies have for future scholarship and, importantly, on social relations.
As a textbook to assist students with their coursework, “A history of English” is an excellent store of learning resources. First, there are suggested exercises at the end of each chapter. Accompanying these exercises is an answer key. The key is useful in saving students from the helplessness of not knowing the right answers to exercises. Further, the exercises contained in the book are interactive, practical, informative, and, more importantly, fun. Many of the exercises make references to pop culture, invite readers to unravel riddles, and to engage with topics they already find interesting. Additionally, the exercises are not limited to written forms only; there are opportunities for learners to conduct research, test hypotheses, gather information, lead presentations, and use various online databases. Secondly, the book has a detailed glossary of linguistic terms designed to help ease the learning of students. Another store of useful resources is in the form of recommended readings, sample texts, and suggested projects. Many of the book’s resources break from the tedium of text, incorporating sources like online databases, library sources, videos, public lectures, websites, films, radio, public speeches, social media, YouTube, podcasts, and online search engines like Google N-grams.
Like any book that seeks to be relevant, “A history of English” engages extensively with the social aspects of language. Using Willaim Labov’s theorizing about language and society as a springboard, the book assumes that learners can reach a meaningful understanding of the nature and function of language if they pay attention to the interface of language and society. We are social beings who live in a fast-paced global world. Community and social understanding are increasingly essential for our flourishing. Thus, the book’s engagement with the social life of language shifts the focus from a mere reiteration of linguistic facts, forms, and structures, and presents students with an opportunity to appreciate how language has intersected with social structures and social relationships throughout history.
A copy of Míša Hejná and George Walkden’s “A history of English” is available for free online from the open library, accessible at
https://www.oapen.org.
EVALUATION
“A history of English” does not exist in an intellectual vacuum; much landmark literature has enriched the field of Language Variation and Change. Aware of this heritage, Hejná and Walkden situate their book within the relevant literary and historical context. Thus, every chapter of the book is replete with further readings, pointing readers to themes and areas that the book merely broaches. “A history of English” shares similarities with, as well as observable differences from, landmark works published in the field in the 20th and 21st centuries. Like Lynda Mugglestone’s “The Oxford history of English” (2006), “A history of English” holds the view that a single, all-encompassing history of any historical phenomenon is an illusion. The history of English, the book suggests, is therefore not the unanimous account of a single narrator. As such, the book makes room for diverse perspectives in the historical account of how the English language has changed.
In light of the above, Hejná and Walkden agree that their book is just an account of “a history” of English, rather than “the history” of English. The book is aware of the many-voiced past (Mugglestone 2006) of English’s history and recognizes that many other pathways could be navigated through the past – and present– of the English language. Consequently, it adopts a modest and inclusive approach in its account of the changes that have taken place in English. In “A history of English”, readers will find Shakespearean and Chaucerian texts sitting side-by-side with texts written by heretics (an example is on page 171), texts written in regional and dialectal varieties, texts written by renowned as well as obscure female writers, among several other diverse texts. Hejná and Walkden, thus, emphasize the diversity of the many speakers from around the globe who lay claim to English.
The heterogeneity of the English language is another similarity “A history of English” shares with Mugglestone’s “The Oxford history of English.” Hejná and Walkden depart from the notion of English as one unbroken chord held together by the standard (British) variety of English. Instead, their book explores the English language through the theme of homogeneity as well as heterogeneity. Throughout, the book addresses regional and dialectal varieties from many parts of the globe across time. Essentially, the book is more global in outlook, employing a more inclusive reach in its selection of textual material. “A history of English” departs from the usual preoccupation with the standard (British) variety. Consequently, it is not eager to dismiss any variety of English. Instead, it explores diverse varieties of English and is therefore descriptivist in its approach, presenting language as it is, not as anyone would want or prescribe it to be.
Hejná and Walkden’s book, though similar in many ways to landmark books on the history of English, differs to a certain extent, especially in its organizational structure. Many books, including the “Oxford history of English” as well as the first three volumes of the six-volume “The Cambridge history of the English Language” (1992–2001), are chronologically structured. The chapters begin with the prehistory of English and work their way to the current era. Other books, like the last three volumes of “The Cambridge history of the English Language”, are geographically/regionally structured, thus tracing the spread of English from the British Isles to other parts of the globe. “A history of English” goes against this grain and adopts the reverse approach, beginning with present-day English in Chapter 2 and working its way to the prehistory of English in the penultimate chapter.
On their introductory page, the authors outline compelling reasons for this particular organizational structure. The most persuasive of these is the conviction that students would have a better grasp of how English has changed if they began from the familiar vantage point of present-day variation. With that in mind, Chapter 2 takes up a discussion of present-day English, wrapping up with the pre-history of English in Chapter 7.
It is indeed true that many students are more familiar with present-day variations than they are with, say, the variation in “Beowulf.” Thus, they are more comfortable gazing into the prehistory of English from the firm ground of present-day English. Examples from the present serve as a guidepost to explain the past. As such, Hejná and Walkden are not misguided in the structure they adopt. Their structure has an added advantage: moving from present-day English to the past slowly but confidently immerses students into the book as the discussion plunges “deeper into the history of the language” (Hejná and Walkden 2022, p. 211) And so, by starting from the present-day, the book avoids the pitfall of inundating readers with extraneous historical facts before they develop a sustained interest in the book. Besides, what better way is there to spark an interest in future research than by introducing students – from the very start – to relatable and invigorating concepts like “Uptalk” and “vocal fry”? It would have been quite regrettable to open these pathways at the closing chapter when readers might either be too bored or too overwhelmed by historical accounts and complex linguistic phenomena to care.
An unconventional organizational structure is not the only merit of “A history of English.” A prominent hallmark that works to the book’s advantage is its convincing conversational style. Adopting stylistic devices such as direct address, rhetorical questions, relatable examples, comedic repetitions, hilarity, and authorial testimonials, the book earns the trust of its audience, making them buy into the promise of a worthwhile journey through the exploration of the history of English. If readers forget everything they read, it is unlikely they will forget the many colourful and creative ways the word ‘bumblebee’ was used in the book! The repetition of ‘bumblebee’ was not, one presumes, for merely comedic effect. It rather serves a useful end as its predictable pattern aids comprehension by putting readers at ease. It is worth noting that the book does not employ humour frivolously. Rather, it is a tool adopted to make a point, and to make it succinctly. On page 161, for example, the humorous example of Sir John Clarke getting caught in his own prescriptivist trap is an excellent way to make a point about the pitfalls of obsessive prescriptivism.
Apart from its conversational style, “A history of English” is tremendously relatable. Its relatability is furthered by catchy subtitles that feature puns, relatable refrains, and references to pop culture. Additionally, when authors insert themselves into their work, referring to themselves by their first names, and sharing their own anxieties with language use, they come very close to earning the trust of readers. The book garners even more trust by urging students on to further research in the field of Linguistic Variation and Change. Like a good mentor , the book suggests useful recommended readings, often giving reasons for their suitability and pointing to the most active research areas within the field.
“A history of English” is incredibly readable. Its introductory page clearly outlines the book’s purpose and scope. With the book’s signature humour, key concepts and issues are reiterated again and again, helping students remember what needs to be remembered. Being a stand-alone textbook, the book is intentional in operationalizing its definitions and in delimiting its scope. It provides sufficient information to pique the interest of readers without inundating them with extraneous information. Instead, it points readers to other literature for further readings. Moreover, the book incorporates multimodal forms like images, indexes, pointers, infographics, and colourful diagrams which altogether make for an engaging read.
All in all, all is well and good with “A history of English” – almost all, if one succeeds in ignoring the apparent grudge the book holds against prescriptivism. Prescriptivism involves the laying down of rules and the setting of limits on how English is used. Associated with prescriptivism are notions of linguistic purism, ethnonationalism, prohibition about who uses English and how they use it, prejudice against non-native varieties of English, and a belief that variation in English signifies linguistic decay. If prescriptivism is nothing other than gatekeeping and prejudice against non-standard as well as non-native varieties of English, then it is a canker, and “A history of English” is justified to treat it as such. But could it be possible that prescriptivism – that natural human tendency to delimit so that we can make sense of things – transcends linguistic gatekeeping, discrimination, and stuffiness? Could linguistic decay be a real thing, and are prescriptivists tyrants for caring about proper grammar and careful speech? Again, let us say that prescriptivists are wrong about most things, but are they wrong overall in the concerns they raise about linguistic decay? Is there not a cause at all to care about how we speak, how language affects thought and how thought affects language? If humans cannot make rules about language, how do we preserve the pure delight that comes from spotting (and using) linguistic deviations in poetry, proverbs, and quaint dialects?
It is true that “A history of English” makes a convincing argument for prescriptivism’s “toxicity” – even if “toxic” – the word the book uses on page 126 – is a tad too extreme. The argument draws on the changing wheels of the English language, making the case that “one thing that does remain constant as we travel through the historical stages of English is the fact that all the linguistic levels will and do undergo changes of some sort. Change is inevitable, whatever we may think of it as speakers…. the English language has never stood alone, and it has never been the province of only monolinguals, despite what nationalistic one nation, one language rhetoric would have us believe” (Hejná & Walkden 2022, pp. 355-356) Also, the book at last makes one of the few concessions to prescriptivism – “it seems very usual for human beings to comment on language, and to be anxious about language and its change.” This argument and concession are convincing, of course. But they come so curiously late in the organizational structure of the book that one wonders if the book has not succeeded in communicating a lack of nuance in its posture toward prescriptivism.
It is worth noting that the book’s apparent grudge with prescriptivism is often good-natured, but, in many places, there is an implicit assumption of prescriptivism’s toxicity. Who knows what the book could have unearthed had it adopted a more nuanced approach to prescriptivism, even to its claim of linguistic decay. Perhaps, the book could have borrowed a page from Jean Aitchison’s “Language change: Progress or Decay?” by steering clear of almost implying that prescriptivists are “merely ludicrous, akin to fools who think it possible to halt the ebbs and flow of language change” (Aitchison 2001). “A history of English” could have inquired if intelligent prescriptivists – for they cannot all be stuffy old dunces – are possibly right to some extent, whether it is indeed possible, as Orwell argued, that language change can be affected by a lack of care and maintenance on the part of speakers.
Lastly, one cannot help but wonder if there are no significant pitfalls to Linguistic Reconstruction, which is the methodology “A history of English” adopts in Chapter 7 for constructing the prehistory of English. Why, for one thing, should readers take the book’s version of events as more reliable than that of Bede and the Old English Chronicle? Are religious monks any more prone to bias than other sources, and is there significant evidence of the alleged bias? In talking about unreliable sources of history, the book invites readers to participate in a thought experiment of considering the credibility of a “future historian’s view of the 21st century if they had to rely solely on Donald Trump’s feed, or the manifesto of your least favourite political party” (Hejná and Walkden 2022, p. 310.) It would be a fair question to ask if Bede – a noted scholar of his time – could be justifiably compared to Donald Trump or one’s least favourite political party. It seems that such a comparison is not only lacking in equivalence but may be merely predicated on the religious persuasions of Bede and Gildas. Certainly, neither Bede nor Gildas should be taken at face value, but the reason for caution should go deeper than their religion. Further, care should be taken in comparing them to individuals who have been largely perceived to be lacking in credibility.
“A history of English” sets out on a journey to introduce university students to language change and variation in English from the language’s prehistory to the present-day. Addressing themes of variation, homogeneity and heterogeneity, standardization, transitions, linguistic contact and multilingualism, the book succeeds in delivering on the interesting ride it promises. Incredibly relatable and practical in its resourcefulness, the book is a valuable guide to all who seek an interactive and useful textbook on how English has changed, and is changing, through time.
REFERENCES
Aitchison, Jean. Language change: Progress or decay? Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Burchfield, Robert William, ed. The Cambridge History of the English Language: Volume 5: English in Britain and Overseas: Origins and Development. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Hejná, Míša & Walkden, George. A history of English. Language Science Press, 2022.
Mugglestone, Lynda, ed. The Oxford History of English. OUP Oxford, 2006.
Orwell, George. Politics and the English language and other essays. Epubli, 2021.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Portia Dede Opare is a second-year MA student at the Universität Bremen, Germany, studying English-Speaking Cultures. She is currently working on semantic choices and its intersection with narratology and postcolonial literatures. She has a keen interest in semantics, postcolonial fiction, as well as poetry.
Page Updated: 20-Mar-2023