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Title: The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0-380-71543-0 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 September, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.04 (80 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Wow! For all with a sense of humor and a love of languages
Comment: 'The Mother Tongue' captivated me from the first two sentences, "More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to. It would be charitable to say that the results are sometimes mixed." Covering one of my favorite subjects, the English language, Bryson's chapters include: Global Language, Where Words Come From, Pronunciation, Spelling, Good and Bad English, Names, Swearing, Wordplay, and the Future of English. He is not an "English Teacher" and he does not favor the snotty, dry William-Safire-ish "you-should-be-ashamed-for-having-split-an-infinitive" type of English language fans. He is rather more like a bemused bystander and observer of how English is used, misused, where funny and odd things in our language come from, why we do or did (or don't or didn't) carry on British spellings and pronunciations. In total, in typical Bryson fashion, he has taken a subject that the majority of Average Joes would find screamingly boring and made it fascinating... and for someone like me who loves the language to begin with - well, it's just a good, good time.
Rating: 4
Summary: Attention: Trivia Buffs and Logophiles
Comment: I'm an inveterate word lover, so learning some interesting background on English made The Mother Tongue an obvious reading choice. Add to that, my devotion to Bill Bryson books, and it was a match made in book heaven.
Still, like all assumed things, it wasn't a perfect arrangement - the first chapter began with some references that instantly dated the work - namely, the former Soviet Union, which was still very much in existence when this was written. It sort of put a damper on my enthusiasm. Still, I found plenty to keep me engrossed and the book never left my side once I began it.
Bryson does his research - this is clear in all his other works as well - but something that is as scholarly as the English language, needs a steadier hand with things that are open to interpretation. Personally, I enjoyed the random trivia and digressions, but that style may not appeal to all.
If you like Bryson, like languages, and have a good sense of humor, The Mother Tongue is a worthwhile read. I recommend it.
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting Book with a Ton of Wrong Information
Comment: The Mother Tongue was the first major book on language I ever read. I must say, I found it highly enjoyable and very interesting at the time, and I found it very informative as well. However, after I returned to the book lately, with a great deal more linguistic knowledge than I possessed before, though I am not by any means an expert, I found myself astonished by what I was reading. This is a book in desperate need for an editor with a sharp eye for facts, because although some parts of the book are correct, far too much of it is just misinformation.
The easiest thing for anyone even slightly versed in a foreign language to catch is Bill Bryson's complete lack of knowledge on foreign pronounciation. He makes such claims as that German people cannot pronounce v's when infact v is a common sound in the German language, claims the Danish name for Copenhagen, Købnhavn is pronounced Kohbenhawen (when in fact its pronounced Köbenhahven, with a German o umlaut), among other things. He also appears to lack any serious knowledge of Archaic English pronounciation, claiming such things as that Chaucer pronounced a double o as in food. He also lacks understanding as to the arising of pairs like knife knives and grass graze, when any person who has studied Middle English in any detail can tell you they come originally from voicing sounds between vowels (knif, knives, gras, grazen). He also claims as that damp, a word with ancient Germanic roots, was coined in the 17th century. In short, he appears to possess next to no real knowledge on the subject of English language history, or foreign, for that matter.
Less trival for someone writing on language is his lack of understanding in the area of verb conjugation and form. He makes the claim that I am driving is in the present tense, when any language student can tell him that I am driving is an auxillary tense utilizing the present participle of drive. Similarly his claim that the form drive as present tense is found in to drive, would drive, will drive, is absurd. to drive is an infinitive, would drive a past subjunctive, and will drive a future. They all use auxillaries, something Mr. Bryson was apparently not informed about during his research for this book.
The author also shows an amazing lack of common sense at points, claiming that -gry in angry and hungry is a sufix, when anyone can see that it's a contracted form of hungery and angery, thus the sufix is not -gry but the extremely common -y.
The book does have its good points. (...)
In short, this book must be read with a grain of salt. Any serious language student will find himself in disagreement with it often on technical details, in which he will be himself in the right. However, these errors do not totally outway the book as a whole, and so it should be a welcome introduction to any library.
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Title: Made in America by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0380713810 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0767910427 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 13 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0767908171 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0380727501 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson ISBN: 076790382X Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 06 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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