This text book is a linguistic interpretation of the evolution of the English language. It is an explanation of the facts of speech which have come out to be facts of language and facts of evolution thus giving the present state of the language. In this sense, the book is an account of the different states of the language that prompted the present state of the language, that we call English. The book pays special attention to two states of the language, the so-called Old English and the present state of the language or Modern English. The interpretation of the different facts constituting changes in the English language is based on the theory of language change by E. Coseriu.




The book consists of three parts: the theory of language change, texts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and an account of the evolution of the language from Old English to modern times. The three parts are linked with one another.