Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ebook download John McWhorter

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue

A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar Why do we say 'I am reading a catalog' instead of 'I read a catalog'? Why do we say 'do' at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Language distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history. Covering such turning points as the little-known Celtic and Welsh influences on English, the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman Conquest, and the Germanic invasions that started it all during the fifth century ad, John McWhorter narrates this colorful evolution with vigor. Drawing on revolutionary genetic and linguistic research as well as a cache of remarkable trivia about the origins of English words and syntax patterns, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ultimately demonstrates the arbitrary, maddening nature of English' and its ironic simplicity due to its role as a streamlined lingua franca during the early formation of Britain. This is the book that language aficionados worldwide have been waiting for (and no, it's not a sin to end a sentence with a preposition).

Share your thoughts on the Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ebook with other internet viewers!

Title of ebook: Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
ISBN: 9781440607837
parent-ISBN: 9781592403950
Publisher: Gotham
Pages: 256
Published: 10-2008
Released online for download: 10-30-2008
Author of eBook: McWhorter, John

Format

Encrypted

Sku

ISBN

File size

Security

Printing

Copying

Read aloud

Devices

Digital Editions

Yes

1440607842

9781440607844

4703 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Mobipocket

Yes

9781440607875

418 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirements

Download reader

Microsoft

Yes

1440607834

9781440607837

259 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

eReader

Yes

1440607850

9781440607851

210 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Other John McWhorter ebooks:

receive alert on new John McWhorter ebooks

All about the Beat

Hip-hop is often extolled as an urgent "political" message to mainstream America about the realities of life in black communities. But is there really any meaningful ...more

Best price: $20.00

Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America

In his first major book on the state of black America since the New York Times bestseller Losing the Race, John McWhorter argues that a renewed commitment to achievement and ...more

Best price: $12.08

Top eBooks in "Language Arts & Disciplines"

Crucial Conversations : Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

by Patterson, Kerry / Grenny, Joseph / McMillan, Ron

Crucial Conversations offers readers a proven seven-point strategy for achieving their goals in all those emotionally, psychologically, or legally charged situations that can ...more

Best price: $14.34

An Introduction to Political Communication

by McNair, Brian

An Introduction to Political Communication...more

Best price: $32.61

Author Cocitation Analysis: Quantitative Methods for Mapping the Intelle

Over the past 80 years, the way that citation frequency was counted and analyzed changed dramatically from the early manual transcribing and statistical computation of ...more

Best price: $165.00

Cognitive Linguistics

by Croft, William, Cruse, D. Alan

Cognitive Linguistics argues that language is governed by general cognitive principles, rather than by a special-purpose language module. This introductory textbook surveys ...more

Best price: $31.54

Another Word A Day: An All-New Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and

by Garg, Anu

A smorgasbord of surprising, obscure, and exotic words In this delightful encore to the national bestseller A Word A Day, Anu Garg, the founder of the wildly popular A Word A...more

Best price: $20.29

Alphabet to Email

by Baron, S.

From pen-and-parchment to the email revolution, Baron's account shows how a surprising variety of factors--including religious beliefs, the law, nationalism, and economics--...more

Best price: $22.85

Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things

by Tickell, Alex

No description available...more

Best price: $30.98

Declamation, Paternity, and Roman Identity

by Gunderson, Erik

This book explores the much maligned and misunderstood genre of declamation. Instead of a bastard rhetoric, declamation should be seen as a venue within which the rhetoric of ...more

Best price: $43.87

Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words

by Bryson, Bill

One of the english language's most skilled and beloved writers guides us all toward precise, mistake-free usage.As usual Bill Bryson says it best...more

Best price: $12.45

Other Language Arts & Disciplines eBooks Categories

Language Arts & Disciplines (1671)

Composition & Creative Writing (238)

Foreign Language Study (507)

Grammar (46)

Journalism (41)

Linguistics (217)

Publishing (35)