This Language, A River is an introduction to the history of English that recognizes multiple varieties of the language in both current and historical contexts. The book aims to enable students to both grasp traditional histories of English, and to extend and complicate those histories. The second edition uses updated terminology (avoiding "Anglo-Saxon" and further explaining "strong" and "weak" verbs in the history of Indo-European languages) and provides expanded discussions of morphology, syntax, and global Englishes. Corrections and updates have been made throughout.