The Mother Tongue: English And How It Got That Way (1991) - Plot & Excerpts
I have to share my discontent with the world after keeping the words bottled up inside me for so long.I bought this book about two or three years ago, thinking it might be an entertaining read that might fill me in on some of the historical aspects of the English language. I had already read "A Short History Of Nearly Everything", and, knowing nothing about science, thought it was a rather entertaining read, even though I had some... well, doubts about the book since I tend to favour more systematic and precise literature over a tapestry of facts with entertainment and jokes woven in. I also believe this to be one of the few books I have on my Goodreads shelves worthy of one star only.Why? Before I start, let me tell you two things: it has been a long time since I read the book, so my memory may not be as fresh anymore. The second thing I would like to mention is that I have some kind of idea about linguistics, but am not a linguist; where I am, however, a kind of expert, is in the study of foreign languages. I am therefore intimately acquainted with the workings of many foreign languages -- though almost all of them are European. I have also rather extensively studied the historical connections between languages and their classification in language families and so on.It is painfully obvious that Bryson speaks no foreign languages. Fine. Neither does Chomsky and he knows a thing or two about linguistics. You don't have to be a multilingual prodigy to study linguistics, after all. But I digress.Bryson makes the same mistake most monolingual speakers of any language make: they think of their language as something unique. Bryson tries to justify the popularity of the English language not with historical or political arguments (because I am sure that the colonization of a significant part of the world by the British Empire and the subsequent cultural and political hegemony of the United States had nothing to do with it -- nooo, English is magic!), but rather seems to believe that English has, through some kind of divine intervention, been miraculously endowed with characteristics that have made it "beat the other languages"... as if linguistics were some kind of free-market economy where the best product gets the biggest share of the market.Bryson then tries to argue the point with facts that are, while true for the most part, totally irrelevant. Seriously, this is like reading a paper by a student who's been watching one too many linguistic quiz shows on ITV, if such a thing existed; someone who likes to read trivia sections, and then pieces together the information obtained therefrom and tries to pass it off as knowledge to people unfortunate enough to be more ignorant than him. One "fact" that makes the English language so great, he says, is that it has "so many more words than all the other languages". How many words a language has, Bill, is not only something that cannot accurately be ascertained, but also something that is completely irrelevant. Why? In brief, language create composita in a different way, for instance; so where you might create a million different random words in German, in other languages, you have to link them together, meaning you will have less dictionary hits. Not that that has any bearing on the "quality" of the language. Some languages even HAVE to make more words because they have agglutinative qualities (such as Hungarian and Turkish; meaning they lump prefixes, suffixes, and other elements together, creating big lump words). Also, English is the dominant language of science; as such, a lot of the scientific vocabulary is included in dictionaries. Not that these words are usually English (except for the newer sciences like computer science, of course); they often come from Latin or Ancient Greek anyway. There are also more dictionaries being produced in English on account of it being more "popular", and the commercial production of English being more viable. As such, its lexicography can be assumed to be more advanced. "Word count" is as irrelevant as the number of brain cells or the size of the brain with regards to intelligence.This is my biggest beef with Bill's book. At one point, I had to stop reading. I should read it again and reiterate some of the other numerous "arguments" Bill Bryson puts forward in favour of the English language. I can only advise the author to commit himself to the study of foreign languages for a while, and to understand that "fun facts", no matter how objectively true they are, don't always have the meaning or significance someone thinks they have if one is not familiar with the field being discussed. Unfortunately, Bryson probably thought that he can easily trespass on this territory, since everyone who is able to speak must be a linguist. My review may sound harsh, but this book definitely does more harm than good. And people should remember that "fun fact" books, be they about natural sciences or linguistics, do not represent knowledge. I am sure that people endowed with a deeper understanding of natural science have shaken their head at "A Short History Of Nearly Everything" as well.
I am an English teacher. I like grammar. It fascinates me. I like knowing big words and little words and word histories and word games. Being at a computer with access to the online version of the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) can provide me with endless hours of amusement. So, this book was a treat for me. Bill Bryson writes with an exuberance and excitement about what English (and language in general) is capable of that is infectious and uplifting. Though it is not a comprehensive history of the English tongue, it does drop in at key moment and point out some of the really interesting, weird, trivial tidbits. At the same time, he recognizes some of the strange idiosyncrasies of English that make it ridiculously difficult for non-native speakers to learn. Unlike other pieces on English I've read that are uncomfortably superior sounding, this one points out some of the places where other languages can easily express concepts that English speakers don't have precise words for. I also learned that a lot of the rules we hapless grammar teachers try to impart to our students have somewhat dubious origins. For instance, I learned that using a preposition at the end of a sentence, as I have just done a couple of sentences before, is only considered improper because a fellow who wrote an influential book on grammar in England decided HE thought it sounded common and ungraceful. I was also fascinated by all of the words that were once common in Britain that have fallen out of use there, are still in use here, and are now viewed as "Americanisms." In fact, the section on the "drift" between various English speaking countries was very neat. I knew a lot of the Brit-speak already (thank you, year in London and Age of Sail fandom...) but I really liked the argument that British English, Australian English, and American English aren't drifting apart as fast as they might because of the ease of communication and the media shared between the countries. It made a lot of sense to me.Anyway, I found this to be a useful, witty, fun collection of facts and oddities concerning English.
What do You think about The Mother Tongue: English And How It Got That Way (1991)?
The English language is spoken by about 300 million people worldwide. It is the most widely used language on the planet…sometimes with mixed results. This message appeared as a warning to English-speaking motorists in Tokyo: “When a passenger of the foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet at him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, then tootle him with vigor.” To be fair, though, the unfortunate sign-maker was not attempting a simple task. Any language where the unassuming word “fly” signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel and a critical part of a gentleman’s apparel is clearly asking to be mangled. Imagine learning English as a second language and discovering that a person who says “I could care less” and one who says “I couldn’t care less” mean the same thing!tThe English language has about 200,000 words in common use: for comparison, that’s about twice as many as there are in French. One of the big reasons for this is synonyms or different words that mean the same thing. For instance, in English, you can say that you’re happy, glad, pleased, cheerful, ecstatic, thrilled, joyful, delighted, jovial, in high spirits or on cloud nine. English is the only language on the planet that has a thesaurus… or the need of one. tSo how does a single language end up so convoluted? And how does a language so full of verbal booby traps become the world’s most widely used tongue? These questions are the driving force behind Bill Bryson’s book “The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that way.” From changes in pronunciation and grammar to puns and curse words, Bryson gives an overview of the facets of the English language and its use, both current and historical. His explanation of the development of the language is complete with humorous anecdotes and thousands of little-known facts from history and philology—the study of languages.
—Molly Pace
This is an interesting opinion, I can see how you might conclude this. I think that he adds all of these facts for a more aesthetic purpose rather than actually supplying the reader with factual knowledge of other cultures, just so a reader can get a feel of how English is employed in other parts of the world, via exajeration.
—Clouddancer
What a hilarious, fascinating, and educational look at our wacky, wonderful, and WAY complicated language. If English is your mother tongue, this book will amaze and amuse you with interesting tidbits about just how our language evolved into the wonder it is. If you had to learn English as a second language (and more power to you), then bless your heart for taking on the task. You will read this book, and say YES, absolutely, I always wondered..., etc. Bill Bryson turns his sharp-eyes to "The Mother Tongue" and takes us all on a fabulous journey through and overview of the intricacies of human language. You will laugh, smile, and learn a few things while you're at it!!!
—Julie (jjmachshev)
