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Inventing English : A Portable History of the Language by Seth Lerer (2007, Hardcover)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherColumbia University Press

ISBN-10023113794X

ISBN-139780231137942

eBay Product ID (ePID)2309314186

Product Key Features

Number of Pages320 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameInventing English : a Portable History of the Language

Publication Year2007

SubjectOld & Middle English, General, Linguistics / Historical & Comparative, Linguistics / Etymology, Linguistics / General

TypeLanguage Course

Subject AreaLiterary Criticism, Foreign Language Study, Language Arts & Disciplines

AuthorSeth Lerer

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.1 in

Item Weight21.5 Oz

Item Length0.9 in

Item Width0.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2006-030652

Reviews"Nonspecialists will join scholars in praising this remarkable linguistic investigation." -- Bryce Christensen, Booklist, "This absorbing book provides sufficient information about linguistics and early English language and literature for clarification... Essential." -- Choice, "A personal, selective and impassioned journey through the history of English." -- Times Higher Education Supplement, "The book percolates with creative energy and will please anyone intrigued by how our richly variegated language came to be." -- "Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)", "Nonspecialists will join scholars in praising this remarkable linguistic investigation." -- Bryce Chrstensen, Booklist, This absorbing book provides sufficient information about linguistics and early English language and literature for clarification... Essential., "Erudite and accessible. [Lerer] brings both love and rigour to his subject." -- Gale Zo Garnett, Globe & Mail, An important and valuable source for anyone who loves the English language, and language in general., The book percolates with creative energy and will please anyone intrigued by how our richly variegated language came to be., "A wonderful book. It's not hard to find well-informed books about the history of the English language, and it's not hard to find good critical accounts of English literature, but to have the two intertwined in one book is remarkable." -- Language Hat, "An important and valuable source for anyone who loves the English language, and language in general." -- Gale Zoe Garnett, Toronto Globe & Mail, "Written with real authority, enthusiasm, and love for our unruly and exquisite language." -- Michael Dirda, "The Washington Post", "The book percolates with creative energy and will please anyone intrigued by how our richly variegated language came to be." -- Publishers Weekly, "An important and valuable source for anyone who loves the English language, and language in general." -- Gale Zoe Garnett, "Toronto Globe & Mail", "The casual, witty, and sometimes provocative style in which the book is written provides a very apt vehicle for this very personal account." -- Tim William Machan, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, A wonderful book. It's not hard to find well-informed books about the history of the English language, and it's not hard to find good critical accounts of English literature, but to have the two intertwined in one book is remarkable., Lerer not only navigates the shifting currents and boiling rapids of English, but also explores its secret coves., "Lerer not only navigates the shifting currents and boiling rapids of English, but also explores its secret coves." -- Rob Kyff, Advocate, The casual, witty, and sometimes provocative style in which the book is written provides a very apt vehicle for this very personal account., "Written with real authority, enthusiasm, and love for our unruly and exquisite language." -- Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

Dewey Edition23

Grade FromCollege Graduate Student

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal420.9

Table Of ContentA Note on Texts and Letter Forms Introduction: Finding English, Finding Us 1. Caedmon Learns to Sing: Old English and the Origins of Poetry 2. From Beowulf to Wulfstan: The Language of Old English Literature 3. In This Year: The Politics of Language and the End of Old English 4. From Kingdom to Realm: Middle English in a French World 5. Lord of This Langage: Chaucer's English 6. I Is as Ille a Millere as Are Ye: Middle English Dialects 7. The Great Vowel Shift and the Changing Character of English 8. Chancery, Caxton, and the Making of English Prose 9. I Do, I Will: Shakespeare's English 10. A Universal Hubbub Wild: New Words and Worlds in Early Modern English 11. Visible Speech: The Orthoepists and the Origins of Standard English 12. A Harmless Drudge: Samuel Johnson and the Making of the Dictionary 13. Horrid, Hooting Stanzas: Lexicography and Literature in American English 14. Antses in the Sugar: Dialect and Regionalism in American English 15. Hello, Dude: Mark Twain and the Making of the American Idiom 16. Ready for the Funk: African American English and Its Impact 17. Pioneers Through an Untrodden Forest: The Oxford English Dictionary and its Readers 18. Listening to Private Ryan: War and Language 19. He Speaks in Your Voice: Everybody's English Appendix. English Sounds and Their Representation Glossary References and Further Reading Acknowledgments

SynopsisWhy 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., 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 hasbeen 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., A masterful, engaging history of the English language from the age of "Beowulf" to the rap of Eminem, this book percolates with creative energy ("Publishers Weekly").

LC Classification NumberPE1075.L47 2007