The Stories of English
Condition: SECONDHAND
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The fabulous paperback for all fans of Bill Bryson and Melvyn Bragg.
When and why did 'thou' disappear from Standard English? Would a Victorian Cockney have said 'observation' or 'hobservation'? Was Jane Austen making a mistake when she wrote 'Jenny and James are walked to Charmonth this afternoon'?
This superbly well-informed - and also wonderfully entertaining - history of the English language answers all these questions, showing how the many strands of English (Standard English, dialect and slang among them) developed to create the richly-varied language of today.
Author: David Crystal
Format: Paperback, 592 pages, 129mm x 198mm, 404 g
Published: 2005, Penguin Books Ltd, United Kingdom
Genre: Linguistics
Description
The fabulous paperback for all fans of Bill Bryson and Melvyn Bragg.
When and why did 'thou' disappear from Standard English? Would a Victorian Cockney have said 'observation' or 'hobservation'? Was Jane Austen making a mistake when she wrote 'Jenny and James are walked to Charmonth this afternoon'?
This superbly well-informed - and also wonderfully entertaining - history of the English language answers all these questions, showing how the many strands of English (Standard English, dialect and slang among them) developed to create the richly-varied language of today.
The Stories of English