The lexicographer's dilemma : the evolution of "proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park
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Bibliographic Information
The lexicographer's dilemma : the evolution of "proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park
Walker & Co., 2010, c2009
- : pbk
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The lexicographer's dilemma : the evolution of proper English, from Shakespeare to South Park
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"This paperback edition published in 2010"--T.p. verso
Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-313) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In its long history, the English language has had many lawmakers-those who have tried to regulate or otherwise organize the way we speak. The Lexicographer's Dilemma poses a pair of questions-what does proper English mean, and who gets to say what's right? Our ideas of correct or proper English have a history, and today's debates over the state of the language-whether about Ebonics in schools, the unique use of language in a South Park episode, or split infinitives in the Times-make sense only in historical context. As historian Jack Lynch has discovered, every rule has a human history, and the characters who populate his narrative are as interesting for their obsessions as for their erudition. Charting the evolution of English with wit and intelligence, he provides a rich historical perspective that makes us appreciate a new the hard-won standards we now enjoy.
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