Welcome to the resources page for the third edition of
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language by David Crystal

Here you can access audio files, links, quizzes, diagrams, interviews and blog posts. This resource is perfect for students, teachers, researchers and everyone interested in the English Language.

Further Resources Directory

Access the full range of audio files, quizzes, diagrams, links and additional content not found in the book by clicking on the relevant chapter title.

Example Audio Resources

Click on the audio files below to get a taste of how works such as Beowulf and Macbeth sounded when they were written, as well as examples of sound systems and regional variation.

Personal introduction by David Crystal

Quiz Competition

With each chapter there is an accompanying quiz (click on the chapter title in the further resources directory) to measure your learning.

How many of these questions can you answer without looking at the new third edition? The first 5 correct answers emailed to vwillingale@cambridge-org.demo.remotlog.com will win a copy of the print book signed by David Crystal.

1. 1. What form of the verb is shown by an -an or -ian ending?
2. 2. In which year was English first used at the opening of Parliament?
3. 3. What did Orm's principle of consonant doubling show?
4. 4. Which area of language did Shakespeare most influence?
5. 5. Which island was first occupied by English-speaking mutineers?

Example Diagrams

1. The Lexical Conquest Bayeux Tapestry Image, p135
2. The derivational field of a single word (from J. Tournier, 1985), p210
3. Graph charting the replacement of the traditional British spelling, Encyclopaedia, by the American Encyclopedia, p497

Tweets by Cambridge Linguistics