The Language Wars
A History of Proper English
Picador · Print & ebook · October 30, 2012
"Exemplary...Hitchings has created a fascinating, wholly readable, and gratifyingly informative book."---Financial Times (London) The English language is a battlefield.
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- Who it’s for
- English usage disputes reveal how arguments over correctness carry the values of their age.
- Themes
- Debates over English usage, Language, morality, and politics, History of proper English
- Genres
- Sociolinguistics, Historical Linguistics, Grammar & Punctuation
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"Exemplary...Hitchings has created a fascinating, wholly readable, and gratifyingly informative book."---Financial Times (London) The English language is a battlefield. Since the age of Shakespeare, arguments over correct usage have been bitter; often they've had more to do with morality, politics, and the values of the age than with language itself.
Continue reading
Peopled with intriguing characters such as Jonathan Swift, Lewis Carroll, and Lenny Bruce, The Language Wars is essential reading for anyone interested in the contemporary state of the English language, its contested history, and its future.
More Than Grammar
English usage disputes reveal how arguments over correctness carry the values of their age.
Come here for
- Why proper English has been contested since Shakespeare
- Swift, Carroll, and Lenny Bruce in language’s history
Expect
- Usage debates entangled with morality and politics
- A look toward English’s contested future
Where it sits
| Sociolinguistics | 52% |
|---|---|
| Grammar & Punctuation | 35% |
| Historical Linguistics | 35% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Historical Linguistics
- Authors
- Henry Hitchings
- Publisher
- Picador
- Published
- October 30, 2012
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Debates over English usage · Language, morality, and politics · History of proper English
- Reading lane
- Historical Linguistics