This corpus-based study provides an excellent overview of language change in 20th-century written Standard English. In the first chapter, Christian Mair sets the groundwork for the book, describing the position of English in the world during the 20th century. Chapter 2 provides a description of the corpora used in the study and a discussion of the usefulness of historical corpora in tracking ongoing language change. Though he points out the shortcomings associated with other methods of examining language change, such as impressionistic observation or sociolinguistic apparent time studies, he issues a “plea for methodological pluralism” (p. 33), arguing that the best approach is to allow input from all types of linguistic analysis. In chapter 3, Mair treats lexical change during the century. He astutely chooses to divide the chapter into separate sections for case studies focusing upon individual neologisms (including information superhighway, google, maquiladora, and terms of military origin, such as smokescreen, blitz, and friendly fire) and for discussion of major developments in word-formation patterns. In this latter section, he examines such phenomena as lexical borrowings from Yiddish and Spanish, the huge increase in the use of acronyms and initialisms over the course of the 20th century, and the productivity of verbal stem prefixation (e.g. download, incoming). A third section reflects upon the social factors involved in lexical change. While being careful not to rely too heavily on Whorfian explanations, Mair notes the influence of war, technology, and business on English vocabulary.

Chapter 4 discusses developments in English grammar during the 20th century. The chapter is divided into sections dealing with changes in tense, aspect, and modality, voice, clausal complementation, and nouns, pronouns and adjectives. Specific grammatical constructions covered include increased use of the progressive, significant shifts in the use of modals, the spread of the get-passive as in he got shot, developments in the construction for + NP + to-infinitive as in wait for something to be done, and the spread of objective-case personal pronouns. In chapter 5, “Pronunciation,” Mair explores not only phonetic change in English but also issues related to accent as a social marker. He focuses on the history of “Received Pronunciation” in Britain and on the emergence of a “General American” accent that has resulted from leveling of regional accents within the United States. Chapter 6 focuses on 20th-century changes within discourse patterns and communicative norms. Mair discusses the “colloquialization” of written English, arguing that the written language has begun to appropriate the more informal norms of the spoken language.

The main contribution this book makes to the study of language change is the introduction of innovative methodologies. Mair’s use of corpora and digital databases to investigate the nature of 20th-century English allows for a more detailed, quantitative picture of language changes in progress than has previously been available and identifies patterns not easily observable through other means.