Ebook: The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way

William Morrow, 2001. — 654 p. — ISBN-13: 9780380715435, ISBN-10: 0380715430With 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.Аудио: /file/462742/
/file/462742/Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
The World’s Language
The Dawn of Language
Global Language
The First Thousand Years
Where Words Come From
Pronunciation
Varieties of English
Spelling
Good English and Bad
Order out of Chaos
Old World, New World
English as a World Language
Names
Swearing
Wordplay
The Future of English
Select Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Books by Bill Bryson
Copyright
About the Publisher