Socio-historical background of the English language (12th-17th centuries) -- Middle English in context -- Towards the revival of English -- Late Medieval and Early Modern English -- Language change in Medieval and Renaissance England -- Theoretical approaches to linguistic change -- Factors involved in language change -- External factors -- Internal factors -- Language interference through contact -- Interference -- Other contact situations : bilingualism and diglossia -- Changes in different levels of language -- Semantic change : a change 'social and linguistic' -- The meaning of the word meaning -- Related assumptions : the concept of 'semantic field' and broad categorisations of reality -- Changing the meaning -- Definitions -- Causes -- Models to classify changes in meaning -- Corpus material and methodology -- Semantic changes in person-rank nouns -- Meaning change in combination with other variables -- Final remarks -- References.