When and why did 'thou' disappear from Standard English? Would a Victorian Cockney have said 'observation' or 'hobservation'? Was Jane Austen making a mistake when she wrote 'Jenny and James are walked to Charmonth this afternoon'? This superbly well-informed - and also wonderfully entertaining - history of the English language answers all these questions, showing how the many strands of English (Standard English, dialect and slang among them) developed to create the richly-varied language of today.
| ISBN: | 9780141015934 |
| Publication date: | 5th May 2005 |
| Author: | David Crystal |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 592 pages |
| Genres: |
Language: history and general works |