Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue The Untold Story of English

by McWhorter, John

• ISBN13: 9781592403950
• ISBN10: 1592403956
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781440634048
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-10-30
• Publisher: Gotham
• More Book Details
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Summary

"Linguist John McWhorter dives into the unique syntax of English and explains why no other language is like it. He looks at how English grammar and sentence construction have changed more over the centuries than related Germanic languages, and traces these ties to the survival of Celtic grammatical forms after the Germanic tribes first invaded Britain. He outlines the differences between written and spoken English, and explains how this has misled our understanding of English's evolution."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

John McWhorter is the author of The Power of Babel and numerous other acclaimed books, most recently All About the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can-'t Save Black America (Gotham Books, 2008). A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to The New Republic, he has taught linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and has been widely profiled in the media.

Table of Contents

Introduction
We Speak a Miscegenated Grammar	p. 1
A Lesson from the Celtic Impact	p. 63
We Speak a Battered Grammar	p. 89
Does Our Grammar Channel Our Thought?	p. 137
Skeletons in the Closet	p. 171
Notes on Sources	p. 199
Acknowledgments	p. 213
Index	p. 217
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