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Mother tongue : the English language / Bill Bryson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: London : Penguin Books, 1991, c1990.Description: 269 pages ; 20 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 014014305X (pbk.)
Subject(s):
Contents:
A unique contribution to the study of the English language.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Non-Fiction Davis (Central) Library Non-Fiction Non-Fiction 420.9 BRY 1 Available T00489119
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this hymn to the mother tongue Bill Bryson examines how a language 'treated for centuries as the inadequate and second-rate tongue of peasants' has now become the undisputed global language (more people learn English in China than live in the USA). He explains how the words shampoo, sofa, slogan, OK and rowdy (and others drawn from over fifty languages) got into our dictionaries and how the major dictionaries were created. He explores the countless varieties of English - from American to Australian, from Creole to Cockney rhyming slang - and the perils of marketing brands with names like Pschitt and Super Piss. With entertaining sections on the oddities of swearing and spelling, spoonerisms and Scrabble, and a consideration of what we mean by 'good English', Mother Tongue is one of the most stimulating books yet written on this endlessly engrossing subject.

Originally published: London: Hamish Hamilton: 1990.

Includes Bibliographical references.

A unique contribution to the study of the English language.

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Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Linguistics as pop science: Mario Pei's works, such as The Story of Language , have shown how this formula can fascinate, and Bryson's ( The Lost Continent ) blend of linguistic anecdote and Anglo-Saxon cultural history likewise keeps us turning pages. Depth of treatment is not, however, to be found here. Bryson, who wants to see comedy in the English language's quest for hegemony in the modern world, strives for entertaining ironies. While his historical review is thorough, replete with enlightening scholarly citations, he mostly reiterates conventional views about English's structural superiority, asserting that the language dominates the globe today by virtue of its lack of inflection and its ``democratic'' suppleness in accommodating new forms. He retells old tales with fresh verve, and his review of the spelling reform movement has particular merit, but Bryson becomes sloppy when matters of rhetoric and grammar arise, e.g., ``He Shakespeare even used adverbs as nouns, as with `that bastardly rogue,' '' and in presenting his opinions (Samuel Johnson's prose is deemed ``rambling''). BOMC main selection . (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

YA-- Bryson traces the English language from the Neanderthal man of 30,000 years ago to the present. Interestingly, he contrasts the language as it developed simultaneously in various locations. He also presents examples of the evolution of words and their spellings. The book is well researched and informative; the thorough index will aid novices in the exploration of the language.-- Diane Goheen, Topeka West High School, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Bryson approaches his subject with verve. Opening gleefully by quoting nonsensical directions translated from Japanese into English, he goes on to discuss how English, in spite of its many baffling traits, has become the international language of business and science. Bryson glides from a historical summary of linguistics to discussions of quirky names, swearing, dialects, meaning shifts, and how people tend to "compress and mangle words." He reports on attempts at creating artificial languages such as Esperanto and notes that translation is a costly and error-prone industry. Never technical and always entertaining, Bryson, a true word lover, offers a cascade of examples of the vagaries of language. A fascinating subject, deftly handled. Bibliography; to be indexed. --Donna Seaman

Kirkus Book Review

A merry and bright Baedeker to the English language, its history, character, and probable future. American expatriate (to Britain) Bryson proves a witty and knowing guide here, with scarcely a trace of the sneer that spoiled his popular tour of small-town America, The Lost Continent (1989). Instead, a gentle humor, enamored of oddities, warms his discussion of the origins of English, its evolution and current world dominance (so that even in Tokyo, he says, one will find English warnings to motorists: ""When a passenger of the foot heave in sight, tootle the horn""). Constantly striving to amuse, Bryson at times seems to be compiling merely a Ripley's of English as bizarre facts stream by in dizzying array: a list of weird American place-names including Dull, Tennessee, Ding Dong, Texas, and ""the unsurpassable Maggie's Nipples, Wyoming""; a list of some of the 1,685 words that Shakespeare donated to the language (including ""critical,"" ""fretful,"" ""obscene,"" and ""gust""); and so on. But Bryson's passion for words shines throughout, and chapters on how English evolved from Indo-European and Anglo-Norman roots, and on its virtues and vices in spelling, pronunciation, and grammar invigorate potentially dull subjects (""English grammar is so complex and confusing,"" he points out, ""for the one very simple reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin--a language with which it has precious little in common""). Lively chapters on swearing, wordplay (crosswords, palindromes, anagrams--""mother in law = woman Hitler""--etc.), and the language's bright tomorrow close Bryson's upbeat account. An erudite delight, sure to captivate many. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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