Meet The Seller
Format - Hardcover
Condition - Like New
Listed - A year ago
Views - 15
Wishes - 2
Est. Publication Date - May 2005
Publisher Description
ISBN: 9781585676019
The English language is now accepted as the global lingua franca of the modern age. But how did it evolve? How did a language spoken originally be a few thousand Anglo-Saxons become one used by over a quarter of the human race? The Stories of English is a groundbreaking and entertaining history of the language by David Crystal, the world-renowned writer and linguist. Crystal turns the history of English on its head and provides a startlingly original view of where the richness, creativity, and diversity of the language truly lies-in the accents and dialects of nonstandard English users all over the world. Whatever their regional, social, or ethnic background, each group has a story worth telling, whether it is in Scotland or Canada, South Africa or the United States. Interwoven within this central chronological story are accounts of uses of dialect around the world and examples taken from current popular culture as well as literary classics. As Newsday wrote, "Crystal is bold, thoughtful, and often very funny.... His comparisons and allusions are effortless, and he's as up on Ali G and Middle Earth as he is on Anglo-Saxon and Middle English".