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Cargando... The English Language Folio Society in slipcase (1985 original; edición 2007)por Robert Burchfield (Autor)
Información de la obraThe English Language por Robert Burchfield (Author) (1985)
Folio Society (549) Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. A fun read for any word maven. Burchfield does an exceptional job of writing in the space between a textbook and a fluff piece. This book provides a good overview into how English words, spelling, pronuciation, and usage changed with English history, starting with the Anglo-Saxons and ending in the mid-20th century. Though his focus is on British English (received pronunciation or RP), he does spice up the reading a bit with comparisons to American, Australian, Scots, Irish, and other well established forms of the 'mother tongue'. Burchfield plainly and clearly walks the reader through the centuries as bits of the language appear, evolve, and, in some cases, disappear. Loaded with lots of fascinating examples, Burchfield explains many of the mysteries of the language, such as the silent 'e', the use of 's' and 'c' for the same sound, and what, after all, does the 'Ye' mean in 'Ye Olde Shoe Shoppe'? The "English Language" is spiced up with the genius and foolishness of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Johnson, and many 19th and 20th century English writers. A mildly challenging but genuinely enjoyable read. I knew Robert Burchfield through his New Fowler's Modern English Usage which I'm devotedly reading from cover to cover day after day. But I was rather deceived by this other book. I thought I would learn at lot about the English language (after all, the title suggested it...), but finally I cannot remember much of it, which is rather bad omen. To me the most interesting part was Chapter 2 From Runes to Printing, but it covers 14 pages only, and R. Burchfield's explanations are not sufficiently clear (at least to me). If the thorn character seems to be correctly explained (p. 7), there seems to be a typo concerning the wynn character, which is said to be 'closely ressembling the Roman p' (p. 8), and a typographical example is given, with a character which looks exactly as the thorn previously introduced. From the Futhorc alphabet given on p. 7, I can guess that the wynn is the 8th character, which indeed is rather close to the thorn, but it's only a guess. R. Burchfield completey lost me. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
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The English language, in its earliest period, was spoken by a few thousand people, most of whom were illiterate. Today, more than 300 million people speak and write English as their first language. In this book, Robert Burchfield takes us on a brief tour of our ever-changing language as he surveys its history and development and assesses its current state. An eloquent guide, Burchfield examines the complexities of English, as well as its amazing resilience and flexibility. From vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation, to an analysis of the role of literature and the English Bible in shaping the language, Burchfield infuses all his discussions with his fascination with the mystery of language and his confidence that English "can be used at the present time as in the past, with majesty and power, free of all fault." No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)420Language English English and Old English (Anglo-Saxon)Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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Although the treatment is selective and very condensed, it is backed-up by examples and references to more extensive treatments, and it is certainly not dumbed-down. Expect to be confronted with chunks of Anglo-Saxon poetry, phonetic symbols, and all manner of technical terms. Everything is explained nicely the first time you see it, and Burchfield's style is very readable and unintimidating.
The edition I have is from 1986 - some of the controversies covered in it are certainly no longer in the forefront of academic in-fighting, and others will have emerged to take their place. There is only a tantalisingly brief mention of the impact of computer spell-checkers, for example, and not surprisingly nothing about the effects of internet and email on the development of English.
As one of the other reviews here points out, the title is a bit misleading - the book won't give you enough information to read Beowulf in the original or to parse a modern English sentence, and it's unlikely to help you very much if you're a beginner learning English as a second language. But it would be very useful as a jumping-off point for anyone interested in making a more serious study of the subject, or as a quick introduction if you want to put yourself into a position to make intelligent conversation with a colleague from the English faculty. ( )