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Title details for The Prodigal Tongue by Lynne Murphy - Available

The Prodigal Tongue

by Lynne Murphy
ebook
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CHOSEN BY THE ECONOMIST AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
An American linguist teaching in England explores the sibling rivalry between British and American English
 
“English accents are the sexiest.”
“Americans have ruined the English language.”
 
Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English. By examining the causes and symptoms of American Verbal Inferiority Complex and its flipside, British Verbal Superiority Complex, Murphy unravels the prejudices, stereotypes and insecurities that shape our attitudes to our own language.
 
With great humo(u)r and new insights, Lynne Murphy looks at the social, political and linguistic forces that have driven American and British English in different directions: how Americans got from centre to center, why British accents are growing away from American ones, and what different things we mean when we say estate, frown, or middle class. Is anyone winning this war of the words? Will Yanks and Brits ever really understand each other?
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Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Kindle Book

  • ISBN: 9781524704889
  • Release date: April 10, 2018

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9781524704889
  • File size: 2701 KB
  • Release date: April 10, 2018

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9781524704889
  • File size: 2717 KB
  • Release date: April 10, 2018
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Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

Grammar & Language Usage Language Arts Nonfiction

Languages

English

CHOSEN BY THE ECONOMIST AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
An American linguist teaching in England explores the sibling rivalry between British and American English
 
“English accents are the sexiest.”
“Americans have ruined the English language.”
 
Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English. By examining the causes and symptoms of American Verbal Inferiority Complex and its flipside, British Verbal Superiority Complex, Murphy unravels the prejudices, stereotypes and insecurities that shape our attitudes to our own language.
 
With great humo(u)r and new insights, Lynne Murphy looks at the social, political and linguistic forces that have driven American and British English in different directions: how Americans got from centre to center, why British accents are growing away from American ones, and what different things we mean when we say estate, frown, or middle class. Is anyone winning this war of the words? Will Yanks and Brits ever really understand each other?
Expand title description text
Grammar & Language Usage Language Arts Nonfiction