Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language

WhyistheresuchastrikingdifferencebetweenEnglishspellingandEnglishpronunciation?Howdidourseeminglyrelativelysimplegrammarrulesdevelop?Whataretheoriginsofregionaldialect，literarylanguage，andeverydayspeech，andwhatdotheyhavetodowithyou?SethLerer'sInventingEnglishisamasterful，engaginghistoryoftheEnglishlanguagefromtheageofBeowulftotherapofEminem.Manyhavewrittenabouttheevolutionofourgrammar，pronunciation，andvocabulary，butonlyLerersituatesthesedevelopmentsinthelargerhistoryofEnglish，America，andliterature.LererbeginsintheseventhcenturywiththepoetCaedmonlearningtosingwhatwouldbecometheearliestpoeminEnglish.HethenlooksatthemedievalscribesandpoetswhogaveshapetoMiddleEnglish.HefindsthetracesoftheGreatVowelShiftinthespellingchoicesofletterwritersofthefifteenthcenturyandexplorestheachievementsofSamuelJohnson'sDictionaryof1755andTheOxfordEnglishDictionaryofthelatenineteenthandearlytwentiethcenturies.HedescribesthedifferencesbetweenEnglishandAmericanusageand，throughtheexampleofMarkTwain，thelinkbetweenregionaldialectandrace，class，andgender.Finally，hemusesonthewaysinwhichcontactwithforeignlanguages，popularculture，advertising，theInternet，ande-mailcontinuetoshapeEnglishforfuturegenerations.Eachconcisechapterilluminatesamomentofinvention-atimewhenpeoplediscoveredanewformofexpressionorchangedthewaytheyspokeorwrote.Inconclusion，LererwonderswhetherglobalizationandtechnologyhaveturnedEnglishintoaworldlanguageandreflectsonwhathasbeenpreservedandwhathasbeenlost.Auniqueblendofhistoricalandpersonalnarrative，InventingEnglishisthesurprisingtaleofalanguagethatisasdynamicasthepeopletowhomitbelongs.