Why do Americans say fall when the British say autumn? How was
English altered by the Black Death? What is Singlish and how has it
evolved? Novelist Bragg explores these and other questions in his
look at the English language's long march from obscure Sanskrit
origins to a global lingua franca. Along the way, he examines the
roles played by the Viking invasions, the Norman Conquest, the
Tyndale Bible, the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare, and the
Industrial Revolution. He also traces English's journey across the
globe in the wake of British imperialism, following it to America,
India, Australia, and elsewhere. Several chapters are devoted to
American English and how it has been transformed by influences as
diverse as the journals of Lewis and Clark and the African dialects
that were transported with the slaves. Looking ahead, the book
considers how standard language will be shaped by "other Englishes"
employed by those for whom English is a second tongue. It is
Bragg's contention that the prence of English can be explained in
part by such inherent virtues as "astonishing precision and
flexibility," and whether one agrees with him or not, he is the
ideal tour guide here, both entertaining and
informative.
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