English : one tongue, many voices / Jan Svartvik, Lund University and Geoffrey Leech, Lancaster University ; with contributions from David Crystal, University of Bangor.

Translation of: Engelska: os̈prak̊, var̊ldssprak̊, trendsprak̊.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-291) and indexes.

Text translated from the Swedish.

English: the working tongue of the global village -- The first 500 years -- 1066 and all that -- Modern English in the making -- English goes to the new world -- English transplanted -- English varieties in the British isles -- American and British English -- English, Pidgins and Creoles -- The standard language today -- Linguistic change in progress : back to the inner circle -- Electronic English -- English into the future.

This is the fully revised and expanded second edition of English - One Tongue, Many Voices, a book by three internationally distinguished English language scholars who tell the fascinating, improbable saga of English in time and space. Chapters trace the history of the language from its obscure beginnings over 1500 years ago as a collection of dialects spoken by marauding, illiterate tribes. They show how the geographical spread of the language in its increasing diversity has made English into an international language of unprecedented range and variety. The authors examine the present state of English as a global language and the problems, pressures and uncertainties of its future, online and offline. They argue that, in spite of the amazing variety and plurality of English, it remains a single language.