Inventing English: A Portable History of the LanguageColumbia University Press, 25 août 2015 - 354 pages A history of English from the age of Beowulf to the rap of Eminem, “written with real authority, enthusiasm and love for our unruly and exquisite language” (The Washington Post). Many have written about the evolution of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, but only Seth Lerer situates these developments within the larger history of English, America, and literature. This edition of his “remarkable linguistic investigation” (Booklist) features a new chapter on the influence of biblical translation and an epilogue on the relationship of English speech to writing. A unique blend of historical and personal narrative, both “erudite and accessible” (The Globe and Mail), Inventing English is the surprising tale of a language that is as dynamic as the people to whom it belongs. “Lerer is not just a scholar; he's also a fan of English—his passion is evident on every page of this examination of how our language came to sound—and look—as it does and how words came to have their current meanings…the book percolates with creative energy and will please anyone intrigued by how our richly variegated language came to be.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) |
Table des matières
From Beowulf to Wulfstan | |
In This Year | |
From Kingdom to Realm | |
Lord of This Langage | |
Horrid Hooting Stanzas | |
Antses in the Sugar | |
Hello Dude | |
English | |
Pioneers Through an Untrodden Forest | |
Listening to Private Ryan | |
He Speaks in Your Voice | |
Vernacular Devotion and Biblical Translation | |
Middle English Dialects | |
The Great Vowel Shift and the Changing Character | |
Shakespeares English | |
A Universal Hubbub Wild | |
Visible Speech | |
A Harmless Drudge | |
The Talk and the Text | |
Glossary | |
Chancery Caxton and the Making of English Prose | |
Acknowledgments | |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Expressions et termes fréquents
African American English alliterations American dialects Anglo-Saxon appear become Beowulf Bible Caedmon called Caxton Chancery Chaucer connotes culture dude early Early Modern English England English Dictionary English language English pronunciation English word etymology evokes example expression Falstaff figure forms French Germanic languages grammar grammatical gender Henry idiom illustrate imagination Johnson King Latin learned letter lexicographer lexicography lexicon lines linguistic literary literature look lord meaning medieval Middle English Middlemarch Milton Modern English Noah Webster Norman nouns Old English original orthoepists Oxford Oxford English Dictionary passage patterns Peterborough Chronicle philology phonetic phrase poem poet poetry political preface pronounced prose quotations readers Reeve's Tale rhetorical rhyme scholars scribes seid sense Shakespeare sixteenth century slang social sounds speak speakers speech spelling story texts things thou tongue translation Twain usage verb verbal vernacular vocabulary voice Vowel Shift Webster William writing written wrote