Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson

For those of you who are familiar with my reviews, it will come as no surprise that I love language, especially the English language. I am proud of this language that we speak and the way that it has been adopted around the World. It may not be the most widely spoken first language but it most certainly is the language with the widest usage. Of course, whilst we Brits are responsible for its initial spread by virtue of our Empire, now not much more than a memory, even I have to admit that its modern day ubiquitousness is due far more to our cousins across the pond than to our own efforts. The "Mighty Dollar" has a lot to answer ...  Read the complete review

For quite a while I’ve held a little interest in the origins of language. Not only how we managed to develop speech, but what has shaped our language into that we use today, perhaps you are the same? If you watched the recent “Walking with Cavemen” on BBC not so long ago you may have satisfied one aspect of that interest, the Robert Winston show presented the facts of human evolution and how communication began. Bill Bryson takes us a little further, perhaps to the tune of around 148,000 years (man is believed to have achieved complex speech around 150,000 years ago!) to begin educating us on how our English language has developed over the ...  Read the complete review

Most people probably only know the name 'Bill Bryson' for his travel writing. True, he is well-known for that, but he has also written several books about language and use of language. 'Mother Tongue' is a book that fits into that category, and is nearly as enjoyable as any of Bryson's travel books. A book almost devoted to the English language, 'Mother Tongue' is Bryson's examination of arguably the most widely-spoken language in the world (Bryson claims that over 300 million poeple speak English). Many aspects of the language are covered, starting with the origins of English and it's place as a world language to the future ...  Read the complete review

Here's a quick little test to begin with: which words out of the following are misspelled? Supercede, conceed, procede, idiosyncracy, concensus, accomodate, impressario, rhythym, opthalmologist, diptheria, anamoly, afficianado, caesarian, grafitti Answers at end. I've read all Bill Bryson's books to date and I've been saving Mother Tongue for last, as it's a little bit different from his other books. You'll find it in the language and linguistics section of amazon, although it isn't hard to find it among his other works in most bookstores. First of all, if you like Bill Bryson because he's funny ...  Read the complete review

English is my second language (my first is Spanish if you were curious) and I have always been fascinated by it, with the kind of fascination that comes from someone who's learned a language in school rather than just by speaking it from birth. English seems to be filled with quirky spellings, complicated pronunciation rules (with just as many exceptions) and other twists and turns that make it pretty hard for foreigners to fully grasp. Mother Tongue has been a godsend for me. This book has answered almost all my questions about this complicated language (and even some I had never thought about!) and does so in such an easy and entertaining manner that you ...  Read the complete review