The Mother Tongue
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Written by Bill Bryson.
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($14.95)
Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson--the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent--brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.User Reviews (1) Login or create an account to write a review.
Za thinks this book is Good.
Mother Tongue is an interesting study of the English language, how it developed from its Indo-European roots, and how it grew to be the single most important language in the world. The first few chapters tend towards the technical, identifying roots that are derived from other languages, changes in spelling and pronunciation, different types of English spoken by people (all of whom consider themselves native speakers of it), and the spread of English across continents during the age of empire. The latter half of the book is an easier read, taking us through the processes by which English exercised its all-pervasive influence over other languages as well. I loved the part where Bryson cites a few words and phrases that have been so well adapted by the Japanese that they now sound, well, Japanese. For example: nyuu ritchi (newly rich), apputudeito (up-to-date), and rushawa (rush hour). There are fun chapters on names, swearing, and wordplay as well. The last is an entertaining guide through the world of crosswords, Scrabble, palindromes, rebuses, lipograms, and all those lovable and quirky things we make the English language do for us.
As a non-native speaker of English but someone who is totally comfortable with it and considers it her first language anyway, I found this book fascinating. (I'm also one of those nerdy types who loves figuring out roots of words and my Latin isn't half bad either, though I never learned it in an organised manner). Kudos to Bryson for the gargantuan amount of research that went into writing this. You may want to skip the more technical bits in this if they're not to your interest, but you will definitely come away from it with heightened respect for the tenacity of the English language and how it has served as a bridge between the most disparate of cultures.