The Story of English: How the English Language Conquered the World - Hardcover

Gooden, Philip

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1847242723 ISBN 13: 9781847242723

Publisher: Quercus Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

Born as a Germanic tongue with the arrival in Britain of the Anglo-Saxons in the early medieval period, heavily influenced by Norman French from the 11th century, and finally emerging as modern English from the late Middle Ages, the English language has grown to become the linguistic equivalent of a superpower, and is now sometimes described as the world's lingua franca. Worldwide some 380 million people speak English as a first language and some 600 million as a second language. A staggering one billion people are believed to be learning it. English is the premier international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, and diplomacy and also on the Internet. It has been one of the official languages of the United Nations since its founding in 1945. It is considered by many good judges to be well on the way to becoming the world's first universal language. Author Philip Gooden tells the story of the English language in all its richness and variety. From the intriguing origins and changing definitions of common words such as 'OK', 'beserk', 'curfew', 'cabal' and 'pow-wow', to the massive transformations wrought in the vocabulary and structure of the language by Anglo-Saxon and Norman conquest, through to the literary triumphs of Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales and the works of Shakespeare. The Story of English is a fascinating tale of linguistic, social and cultural transformation, and one that is accessibly and authoritatively told by an author in perfect command of his material.

About this title

Review

'... this is a fascinating tale of linguistic, social and cultural transformations, accessibly and authoratively told' --Business Destinations.

From the Back Cover

Born as a Germanic tongue with the arrival in Britain of the Anglo-Saxons in the early medieval period, heavily influenced by Norman French from the 11th century, and finally emerging as modern English from the late Middle Ages, the English language has grown to become the linguistic equivalent of a superpower.
Worldwide, some 380-million people speak English as a first language and some 600-million as a second language. A staggering one-billion people are believed to be learning it. English is the premier international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, diplomacy, and on the Internet. It is thought by many to be well on the way to becoming the world's first universal language.
Philip Gooden tells the story of the English language in all its richness and variety. From the intriguing origins and changing definitions of common words such as 'OK', 'berserk', 'curfew', 'cabal' and 'pow-wow', to the massive transformation wrought in the vocabulary and structure of the language by Anglo-Saxon and Norman conquest, through to the literary triumphs of Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales and the works of Shakespeare, right up to the profound and surprising effect electronic media have had on its development.
The Story of English is a fascinating tale of linguistic, social and cultural transformation, told accessibly and authoritatively.

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1847242723
• ISBN 13: 9781847242723
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224