did-you-know? rent-now

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

did-you-know? rent-now

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

We're the #1 textbook rental company. Let us show you why.

9780140260236

Language Myths

by ;
  • ISBN13:

    9780140260236

  • ISBN10:

    0140260234

  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 1999-09-07
  • Publisher: Penguin Books

Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.

Purchase Benefits

  • Free Shipping Icon Free Shipping On Orders Over $35!
    Your order must be $35 or more to qualify for free economy shipping. Bulk sales, PO's, Marketplace items, eBooks and apparel do not qualify for this offer.
  • eCampus.com Logo Get Rewarded for Ordering Your Textbooks! Enroll Now
  • Buyback Icon We Buy This Book Back!
    In-Store Credit: $2.63
    Check/Direct Deposit: $2.50
    PayPal: $2.50
  • Write a Review Icon Write a Review
List Price: $16.00 Save up to $11.01
  • Rent Book
    $4.99
    Add to Cart Free Shipping Icon Free Shipping

    TERM
    PRICE
    DUE
    IN STOCK USUALLY SHIPS IN 24 HOURS.
    *This item is part of an exclusive publisher rental program and requires an additional convenience fee. This fee will be reflected in the shopping cart.

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

Summary

A unique collection of original essays by 21 of the world's leading linguists. The topics discussed focus on some of the most popular myths about language: The Media Are Ruining English; Children Can't Speak or Write Properly Anymore; America is Ruining the English Language. The tone is lively and entertaining throughout and there are cartoons from Doonesbury andThe Wizard of Id to illustrate some of the points. The book should have a wide readership not only amongst students who want to read leading linguists writing about popular misconceptions but also amongst the large number of people who enjoy reading about language in general.

Author Biography

Laurie Bauer is a Reader in Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and the author of many books and articles on word formation, international varieties of English, and language change in current English.
Peter Trudgill is professor of English linguistics at Fribourg, Switzerland. An author of many books and articles on sociolinguistics and dialectology, he has carried out linguistic fieldwork in most countries.

Table of Contents

A Note on the Contributors
Introduction
The Meanings of Words Should Not be Allowed to Vary or Changep. 1
Some Languages are Just Not Good Enoughp. 9
The Media are Ruining Englishp. 15
French is a Logical Languagep. 23
English Spelling is Kattastroffikp. 32
Women Talk Too Muchp. 41
Some Languages are Harder than Othersp. 50
Children Can't Speak or Write Properly Any Morep. 58
In the Appalachians They Speak like Shakespearep. 66
Some Languages Have No Grammarp. 77
Italian is Beautiful, German is Uglyp. 85
Bad Grammar is Slovenlyp. 94
Black Children are Verbally Deprivedp. 103
Double Negatives are Illogicalp. 113
TV Makes People Sound the Samep. 123
You Shouldn't Say 'It is Me' because 'Me' is Accusativep. 132
They Speak Really Bad English Down South and in New York Cityp. 139
Some Languages are Spoken More Quickly than Othersp. 150
Aborigines Speak a Primitive Languagep. 159
Everyone Has an Accent Except Mep. 169
America is Ruining the English Languagep. 176
Indexp. 183
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Rewards Program