This guide should also be helpful to those who wish to further research the history or social aspects of the English language. For technical questions relating to linguistics, you may also want to use the library's guide to linguistics.
To find books in the library, there are two tools you might use:
You might want to try a general keyword search, but the subject headings can also be extremely useful.
These are some of the ways books about the English language are described in the CUNY Catalog and OneSearch.
“English language” is a subject heading in the catalog that unites all the books about the English language.
However, it is a very frequently used heading and is attached to thousands of books. However, it's broken down into subheadings on more specific topics within this broad category. I've listed some of them below, along with a few other subject headings that you may find of interest.
As noted above, these are far from the only headings that you may find useful, but they should give you some idea of what is out there. As you search, you'll find more.
Another strategy for searching for books on topics having to do with the English language is to use the Advanced Search. There, you can combine a subject search for “English language” with a keyword search for whatever else interests you.
Library of Congress call numbers help us to organize books by subject. Within this system, the letter P at the beginning of a call number represents language and literature. A call number that begins with a P and no other letter is about language and literature generally, while call numbers beginning with the letters PE designate books about the English language.
Within those two ranges, there are some areas that may be of particular interest:
