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Loading... The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language (2003)by Melvyn Bragg
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Like oxygen, the English language is an invisible and highly under appreciated part of our lives. Take an audible journey through its history in this most interesting work. English is very much alive and constantly changing. Appreciate the voyage to today's version before it becomes as dated as Chaucer's Middle English. The audible version richly rewards you with all the varied dialect pronunciations. ( )
Bragg sees the English Language as a living organism, with hopes, fears, courage and determination all of its own. Its history is an epic tale of breaking free from the confines of mainland Europe, leaping into the wide expanse of the British Isles, heroic resistance to the onslaught of the Vikings, then cruel defeat by the Normans, dark years of oppression as it gazes upon looming extinction. Then, just when all seems lost, comes triumph over its enemies, a glorious blooming, a bursting forth to take on the world and win the prize of Top Language, as it has always felt its destiny to be. Belongs to Publisher SeriesFlipback (2) Distinctions
English is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through the heart of world finance, medicine and the Internet, and it is understood by around two thousand million people across the world. Yet it was very nearly wiped out in its early years. In this book Melvyn Bragg shows us the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language. THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH is not only an enthralling story of power, religion and trade, but also the story of people, and how their day-to-day lives shaped and continue to change the extraordinary language that is English. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)420.9Language English English and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) English language--historyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. Hachette Book Group2 editions of this book were published by Hachette Book Group. Editions: 1559707100, 1559707844 Arcade PublishingAn edition of this book was published by Arcade Publishing. |