Bibliograph

The story of English, Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeil

Type

Label

The story of English, Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeil

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 353-368) and index

Illustrations

illustrationsmaps

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The story of English

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

13455507

Responsibility statement

Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeil

Summary

Library Journal: A tie-in for a nine-part television series to be broadcast over PBS beginning in September, this is a wide-ranging account of the travels and changes of the English tongue from its beginnings to tomorrow, from England to America to Australia to Africa and India and the Pacific. Despite an occasionally perceptible British bias, the authors have tried hard to paint a colorful, vivid picture of the many faces and varieties of English. The text is never dull, but is enlivened by innumerable examples and by interviews with representative individuals: a minister in Scotland, a couple from the Appalachians, a storekeeper in Newfoundland, a Philadelphia shoeshine man, a cockney fruitseller, an Australian farm family, the president of Sierra Leone, a writing professor in India. A readable book that all public libraries should have. BOMC alternate. Catherine V. von Schon, SUNY, Stony Brook

Table Of Contents

Speaking of English -- English-speaking world --Mother tongue -- Muse of fire -- Guid Scots tongue -- Irish question -- Black on white -- Pioneers! O pioneers! -- New Englishes -- Next year's words

Classification

Contributor

Creator