The study of comparative syntax in closely related languages has yielded valuable insights into syntactic phenomena--for example in the study of the Romance languages--yet little comparative work has been done on English dialects.
The Michif language -- spoken by descendants of French Canadian fur traders and Cree Indians in western Canada -- is considered an "e;impossible language"e; since it uses French for nouns and Cree for verbs, and comprises two different sets of grammatical rules.
The media frenzy surrounding the 1996 resolution by the Oakland School Board brought public attention to the term "e;Ebonics"e;, however the idea remains a mystery to most.
A conventional wisdom among creolists is that creole is a sociohistorical term only: that creole languages share a particular history entailing adults rapidly acquiring a language usually under conditions of subordination, but that structurally they are indistinguishable from other languages.
Lynda Mugglestone's hugely popular The Oxford History of English is now updated and entirely reset in a new edition featuring David Crystal's new take on the future of English in the wider world.
Lynda Mugglestone's hugely popular The Oxford History of English is now updated and entirely reset in a new edition featuring David Crystal's new take on the future of English in the wider world.
The second volume of Julie Coleman's entertaining and revealing history of the recording and uses of slang and criminal cant takes the story from 1785 to 1858, and explores their manifestations in the United States of America and Australia.
The third edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics is an authoritative and invaluable reference source covering every aspect of its wide-ranging field.
This unique and authoritative dictionary contains over 1,100 of the most widely used proverbs in English, utilizing the latest research from the Oxford Languages team to source them.
Remade in France: Anglicisms in the Lexicon and Morphology of French chronicles the current status of French Anglicisms, a popular topic in the history of the French language and a compelling example of the influence of global English.
Remade in France: Anglicisms in the Lexicon and Morphology of French chronicles the current status of French Anglicisms, a popular topic in the history of the French language and a compelling example of the influence of global English.
Here is a wonderful Baedeker to down-and-dirty politics--more than six hundred slang terms straight from the smoke-filled rooms of American political speech.
A conventional wisdom among creolists is that creole is a sociohistorical term only: that creole languages share a particular history entailing adults rapidly acquiring a language usually under conditions of subordination, but that structurally they are indistinguishable from other languages.
The media frenzy surrounding the 1996 resolution by the Oakland School Board brought public attention to the term "e;Ebonics"e;, however the idea remains a mystery to most.
From baby boomers with 'groovy' and 'yuppie,' to Generation X with 'whatever' and 'like,' each generation inevitably comes to use certain words that are particular to its unique time in history.
Tracing the history of swearing from ancient Anglo-Saxon traditions and those of the Middle Ages, through Shakespeare, the Enlightenment and the Victorians, to the Lady Chatterley trial and various current trends, Geoffrey Hughes explores a fascinating, little discussed yet irrespressible part of our linguistic heritage.
