The Stories of English
Author(s): David Crystal
When and why did 'thou' disappear from Standard English? Would a Victorian Cockney have said 'observation' or 'hobservation'? Was Jane Austen making a mistake when she wrote 'Jenny and James are walked to Charmonth this afternoon'? This superbly well-informed - and also wonderfully entertaining - history of the English language answers all these questions, showing how the many strands of English (Standard English, dialect and slang among them) developed to create the richly-varied language of today.
Product Information
Shortlisted for British Academy Book Prize 2005.
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General Fields
- :
- : Penguin Books, Limited
- : Penguin Books, Limited
- : 0.405
- : 01 May 2005
- : 198mm X 129mm X 25mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Special Fields
- : David Crystal
- : Paperback
- : 420.9
- : 592
- : Illustrations, maps