Inventing English: A Portable History of the LanguageColumbia University Press, 2007 - 305 oldal Why is there such a striking difference between English spelling and English pronunciation? How did our seemingly relatively simple grammar rules develop? What are the origins of regional dialect, literary language, and everyday speech, and what do they have to do with you? Seth Lerer's Inventing English is a masterful, engaging history of the English language from the age of Beowulf to the rap of Eminem. Many have written about the evolution of our grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, but only Lerer situates these developments in the larger history of English, America, and literature. Lerer begins in the seventh century with the poet Caedmon learning to sing what would become the earliest poem in English. He then looks at the medieval scribes and poets who gave shape to Middle English. He finds the traces of the Great Vowel Shift in the spelling choices of letter writers of the fifteenth century and explores the achievements of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of 1755 and The Oxford English Dictionary of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He describes the differences between English and American usage and, through the example of Mark Twain, the link between regional dialect and race, class, and gender. Finally, he muses on the ways in which contact with foreign languages, popular culture, advertising, the Internet, and e-mail continue to shape English for future generations. Each concise chapter illuminates a moment of invention-a time when people discovered a new form of expression or changed the way they spoke or wrote. In conclusion, Lerer wonders whether globalization and technology have turned English into a world language and reflects on what has been preserved and what has been lost. A unique blend of historical and personal narrative, Inventing English is the surprising tale of a language that is as dynamic as the people to whom it belongs. |
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181. oldal
... American English THERE ARE NO ENTRIES FOR America or American in Johnson's Dictionary , but the lexicographer had his opinions nonetheless . " To a man of mere animal life , ” he wrote , “ you can urge no argument against going to Amer ...
... American English THERE ARE NO ENTRIES FOR America or American in Johnson's Dictionary , but the lexicographer had his opinions nonetheless . " To a man of mere animal life , ” he wrote , “ you can urge no argument against going to Amer ...
195. oldal
... American dialects — what Whitney called the " mixture and intimate in- tercourse of all ranks and of all regions " ( quoted in Jones , 22 ) . The study of American dialects became , in part , a celebration of American identity and the ...
... American dialects — what Whitney called the " mixture and intimate in- tercourse of all ranks and of all regions " ( quoted in Jones , 22 ) . The study of American dialects became , in part , a celebration of American identity and the ...
291. oldal
... American speech and , 223 , 224 Alfred , King , 17 , 26 , 33-34 Algeo , John , 197 , 218 alliteration , 19–20 , 26 , 29 , 35 , 57 ; in Chaucer , 77 ; in Peterborough Chronicle , 42 , 49-50 alphabet , Roman , II America , as logocracy ...
... American speech and , 223 , 224 Alfred , King , 17 , 26 , 33-34 Algeo , John , 197 , 218 alliteration , 19–20 , 26 , 29 , 35 , 57 ; in Chaucer , 77 ; in Peterborough Chronicle , 42 , 49-50 alphabet , Roman , II America , as logocracy ...
Tartalomjegyzék
Old English and the Origins of Poetry | 12 |
From Beowulf to Wulfstan | 25 |
In This Year | 39 |
Copyright | |
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African American English alliterations alliterative Anglo-Saxon appear Beowulf Caedmon Caedmon's Hymn called calque Caxton century Chancery Chaucer connotation consonant culture diction dude early Early Modern English England English language entry etymology evokes example Falstaff figure forms French Germanic languages grammar grammatical gender guage Henry Hobson-Jobson idiom illustrate imagination James A. H. Murray Johnson kind King Latin learned letters lexicographer lexicography lexicon linguistic lish literary literature lord meaning medieval Middle English Middlemarch Milton Modern English Norman nouns original orthoepists Oxford passage patterns Peterborough Peterborough Chronicle philology phonetic phrase poem poet poetry political pronounced pronunciation prose quotations readers Reeve's Tale regional rhetoric rhyme scholars scribes seid sense Shakespeare sixteenth slang social sound speak speakers speech spelling story texts things tion tongue translation Twain University Press verb verbal vernacular verse vocabulary voice Vowel Shift Webster William writing written þat
Hivatkozások erre a könyvre
Language Anxiety: Conflict and Change in the History of English Tim William Machan Korlátozott előnézet - 2009 |