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The Mother Tongue

English and How it Got that Way

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"Vastly informative and vastly entertaining...A scholarly and fascinating book." —Los Angeles Times

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language.

From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 2, 1991
      Bryson's blend of linguistic anecdotes and Anglo-Saxon cultural history proves entertaining but superficial. ``While his historical review is thorough. . . he mostly reiterates conventional views about English's structural superiority,'' said PW. ``He retells old tales with fresh verve . . . but becomes sloppy when matters of rhetoric and grammar arise.''

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  • OverDrive Read
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Languages

  • English

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