Society for Pure English Tract 4
Society for Pure English Tract 4

Author: John Sargeaunt

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2019-12-04

Total Pages: 58

ISBN-13:

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The Society for Pure English presents a collection of tracts that offer an insightful and well-researched examination of various aspects of the English language, including grammar, pronunciation, etymology, and vocabulary. Despite its name, the society is not dogmatic in its approach and is not opposed to the introduction of foreign words into the English language. Each tract is written by a group of writers and academics who offer an urbane perspective on the English language. Whether you are a grammar enthusiast or simply interested in the evolution of language, the tracts in this book are a must-read for anyone who values the power and beauty of the English language.

Word On The Street
Word On The Street

Author: John Mcwhorter

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2009-03-06

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0786731478

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Though there is a contingent of linguists who fight the fact, our language is always changing -- not only through slang, but sound, syntax, and words' meanings as well. Debunking the myth of "pure" standard English, tackling controversial positions, and eschewing politically correct arguments, linguist John McWhorter considers speech patterns and regional accents to demonstrate just how the changes do occur. Wielding reason and humor, McWhorter ultimately explains why we must embrace these changes, ultimately revealing our American English in all its variety, expressiveness, and power.

Why English?
Why English?

Author: Pauline Bunce

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2016-06-10

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1783095865

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This book explores the ways and means by which English threatens the vitality and diversity of other languages and cultures in the modern world. Using the metaphor of the Hydra monster from ancient Greek mythology, it explores the use and misuse of English in a wide range of contexts, revealing how the dominance of English is being confronted and counteracted around the globe. The authors explore the language policy challenges for governments and education systems at all levels, and show how changing the role of English can lead to greater success in education for a larger proportion of children. Through personal accounts, poems, essays and case studies, the book calls for greater efforts to ensure the maintenance of the world’s linguistic and cultural diversity.

Proper English
Proper English

Author: Tony Crowley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-28

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 1135081395

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First published in 1991. Debates about the state and status of the English language are rarely debates about language alone. Closely linked to the question, what is proper English? is another, more significant social question: who are the proper English? The texts in this book have been selected to illustrate the process by which particular forms of English usage are erected and validated as correct and standard. At the same time, the texts demonstrate how a certain group of people, and certain sets of cultural practices are privileged as correct, standard and central. Covering a period of three hundred years, these writers, who include Locke, Swift, Webster, James, Newbolt and Marenbon, wrestle with questions of language change and decay, correct and incorrect usage, what to prescribe and proscribe. Reread in the light of recent debates about cultural identity - how is it constructed and maintained? what are its effects? - these texts clearly demonstrate the formative roles of race, class and gender in the construction of proper ‘Englishness' . Tony Crowley's introductory material breaks new ground in rescuing these texts from the academic backwater of the 'history of the language' and in reasserting the central role of language in history.

Tolkien's Lost Chaucer
Tolkien's Lost Chaucer

Author: John M. Bowers

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-09-26

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 0192580302

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Tolkien's Lost Chaucer uncovers the story of an unpublished and previously unknown book by the author of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien worked between 1922 and 1928 on his Clarendon edition Selections from Chaucer's Poetry and Prose, and though never completed, its 160 pages of commentary reveals much of his thinking about language and storytelling when he was still at the threshold of his career as an epoch-making writer of fantasy literature. Drawing upon other new materials such as his edition of the Reeve's Tale and his Oxford lectures on the Pardoner's Tale, this book reveals Chaucer as a major influence upon Tolkien's literary imagination.