English Language: The Basics
This lively and engaging book traces English’s remarkable journey from a small, local language to the global resource it is today.
The book follows the story of English from its earliest origins, through its growth and expansion over the last 1,500 years, to the part it plays in twenty-first century society. Along the way, the book explores the language’s complex ties to cultural identity, literature and politics. It tracks its evolving relationship with technology – from the invention of the printing press to the rise of artificial intelligence – and explains how it became the global lingua franca across almost every field of international activity.
Concise, clear and informative, the book offers an ideal introduction for anyone curious about the English language: how it developed, how it is used today, and what role it will likely play in the future of global communication.
Philip Seargeant is Professor of Language and Communication at the Open University, where he teaches and researches language and communication. He is the author of The Future of Language (2023) and Exploring World Englishes (with Pan Lin, 2026), and co-editor of English in the World (2013), The Routledge Handbook of English Language Studies (2018), and The Routledge Handbook of Discourse and Disinformation (2023). He is currently academic consultant for BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth programme, and is a frequent contributor to publications such as Wired, The New Statesman, The New European and Prospect.