Blooming English: Observations on the Roots, Cultivation and Hybrids of the English Language
Cambridge University Press, 5/27/2004
EAN 9780521548328, ISBN10: 0521548322
Paperback, 252 pages, 21.7 x 13.9 x 1.7 cm
Language: English
English is the most creative, changeable and imaginative of languages. Some words are invented to meet temporary needs and are quickly discarded; others carry meanings hundreds of years old. Language fascinates us, and we spend a lot of time playing with it, concocting everything from puns, riddles and secret languages to wonderful prose and poetry. We also worry about it a great deal, looking up and checking words in dictionaries and usage guides, occasionally arguing about definitions. This book celebrates our capacity to play with language, as well as examining the ways we use it: in slang and jargon, swearing, speaking the unspeakable, or concealing unpleasant or inconvenient facts. It is a book for browsing, for finding beguiling snippets about language, history and social customs, and a formidable weapon in word games.
1. Why a garden?
2. The complexity of language
3. Language change
4. Word creation
5. Meaning shifts
6. Relics of linguistic change
7. The nature of exotics
8. Bad language
9. Colloquial today, Standard English tomorrow
10. Our untidy English
11. Sound symbolism
12. What is correct English?
13. Dictionaries, style guides and grammars
14. Personal names
15. Dirty words
16. Taboo language
References
Index.