Probably composed at the height of the Viking Age, Vafrunismal recounts how one day the mysterious and powerful god Ooinn visits the hall of an ancient giant named Vafprunismal. There, with their head
This book looks at the ever-present anxieties associated with language change. Focusing on English from Alfred the Great to the present, Tim Machan offers a fresh perspective on the history of languag
Textual-Critical studies of medieval English literature have primarily focused on practical matters such as transcription, collation, recension, and the identification of scribal hands. But the theory
What is English? Can we be as certain as we usually are when we say something is not English? To find some answers Tim Machan explores the language's present and past, and looks ahead to its futures a
What is English? Can we be as certain as we usually are when we say something isnot English? To find some answers Tim Machan explores the language's present and past, and looks ahead to its futures am
Imagining Medieval English is concerned with how we think about language, and simply through the process of thinking about it, give substance to an array of phenomena, including grammar, usage, variation, change, regional dialects, sociolects, registers, periodization, and even language itself. Leading scholars in the field explore conventional conceptualizations of medieval English, and consider possible alternatives and their implications for cultural as well as linguistic history. They explore not only the language's structural traits, but also the sociolinguistic and theoretical expectations that frame them and make them real. Spanning the period from 500 to 1500, and drawing on a wide range of examples, the chapters discuss topics such as medieval multilingualism, colloquial medieval English, standard and regional varieties, and the post-medieval reception of Old and Middle English. Together, they argue that what medieval English is, depends, in part, on who's looking at it, how,
