The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Orthography

Marco Condorelli has a Ph.D. in English language and has worked as a researcher and lecturer at various academic institutions. His previous publications include Introducing Historical Orthography (2022), Standardising English Spelling (2022), and Advances in Historical Orthography, c. 1500–1800 (editor, 2020). Hanna Rutkowska is Associate Professor at the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Her previous publications include Orthographic Systems in Thirteen Editions of the Kalender of Shepherdes (1506–1656) and Graphemics and Morphosyntax in the Cely Letters (1472–88).

• Part I. Introduction: 1. Historical orthography: purposes, ambitions and boundaries Marco Condorelli and Hanna Rutkowska; Part II. Structures and Theories: 2. Classifying and comparing early writing systems Amalia E. Gnanadesikan; 3. Elements of writing systems Stefan Hartmann and Renata Szczepaniak; 4. Orthographic conventionality Aurelija Tamošiūnaitė; 5. Theoretical approaches to understanding writing systems Hanna Rutkowska; 6. Grapholinguistics Vuk-Tadija Barbarić; 7. Typologies of writing systems Terry Joyce; Part III. Organization and Development: 8. Comparative historical perspectives Per Ambrosiani and Elena Llamas-Pombo; 9. Systems and idiosyncrasies Benjamin W. Fortson IV; 10. Multilayeredness and multiaspectuality Justyna Rogos-Hebda; 11. Adapting alphabetic writing systems Anetta Luto-Kamińska; 12. Variation and change Michelle Waldispühl; 13. What is spelling standardization? Marco Condorelli; Part IV. Empirical Approaches: 14. Studying epigraphic writing Katherine McDonald and Emmanuel Dupraz; 15. Materiality of writing Giedrius Subačius; 16. Data collection and interpretation Anja Voeste; 17. Philological approaches Annina Seiler and Christine Wallis; 18. Exploring orthographic distribution Javier Calle-Martín and Juan Lorente-Sánchez; 19. Comparative and sociopragmatic methods Marija Lazar; 20. Reconstructing a pre-historic writing system Ester Salgarella; Part V. Explanatory Discussions: 21. Scribes and scribal practices Peter J. Grund; 22. Orthographic norms and authorities Carol Percy; 23. Networks of practice across English and Dutch corpora Marco Condorelli and Chris De Wulf; 24. Literacy and the singular history of Norwegian Agnete Nesse; 25. Authorship and gender Mel Evans; 26. Sociolinguistic variables in English orthography Juan Manuel Hernández-Campoy; 27. Sociolinguistic implications of orthographic variation in French Sandrine Tailleur; 28. Orthography and language contact Israel Sanz-Sánchez; 29. Discourse and sociopolitical issues Laura Villa Galán; 30. Transmission and diffusion Gijsbert Rutten, Iris Van de Voorde and Rik Vosters; 31. Analogy and extension Yishai Neuman; Bibliography; Subject index; Name index.

'In this Handbook, the reader will find a wide variety of detailed and sometimes unexpected orthographic topics, ranging from linguistics to social/political factors to typography and beyond, all of which have historical reflexes which may persist to the present day. Principles are elucidated, but also with plentiful examples from ancient Western and non-Western orthographies.' Michael Cahill, Orthography Services Coordinator, SIL International