Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language

by Seth Lerer

Overview

A history of English from the age of Beowulf to the rap of Eminem, “written with real authority, enthusiasm and love for our unruly and exquisite language” (The Washington Post).
 
 Many have written about the evolution of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, but only Seth Lerer situates these developments within the larger history of English, America, and literature. This edition of his “remarkable linguistic investigation” (Booklist) features a new chapter on the influence of biblical translation and an epilogue on the relationship of English speech to writing. 
 
A unique blend of historical and personal narrative, both “erudite and accessible” (The Globe and Mail), Inventing English is the surprising tale of a language that is as dynamic as the people to whom it belongs.
 
“Lerer is not just a scholar; he's also a fan of English—his passion is evident on every page of this examination of how our language came to sound—and look—as it does and how words came to have their current meanings…the book percolates with creative energy and will please anyone intrigued by how our richly variegated language came to be.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231541244
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	07/15/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	354
Sales rank:	106,510
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Seth Lerer is Distinguished Professor of Literature and the former Dean of Arts and Humanities at the University of California, San Diego. He is known nationally for his audio and videotape series, The History of the English Language, for the Teaching Company.

Table of Contents

A Note on Texts and Letter Forms
Preface to the Revised Edition
Introduction: Finding English, Finding Us
1. Caedmon Learns to Sing: Old English and the Origins of Poetry
2. From Beowulf to Wulfstan: The Language of Old English Literature
3. In This Year: The Politics of Language and the End of Old English
4. From Kingdom to Realm: Middle English in a French World
5. Lord of This Langage: Chaucer's English
6. I Is as Ille as a Millere Are Ye: Middle English Dialects
7. The Great Vowel Shift and the Changing Character of English
8. Chancery, Caxton, and the Making of English Prose
9. I Do, I Will: Shakespeare's English
10. A Universal Hubbub Wild: New Words and Worlds in Early Modern English
11. Visible Speech: The Orthoepists and the Origins of Standard English
12. A Harmless Drudge: Samuel Johnson and the Making of the Dictionary
13. Horrid, Hooting Stanzas: Lexicography and Literature in American English
14. Antses in the Sugar: Dialect and Regionalism in American English
15. Hello, Dude: Mark Twain and the Making of the American Idiom
16. Ready for the Funk: African American English and Its Impact
17. Pioneers Through an Untrodden Forest: The Oxford English Dictionary and Its Readers
18. Listening to Private Ryan: War and Language
19. He Speaks in Your Voice: Everybody's English
20. Faith in English: Vernacular Devotion and Biblical Translation
Epilogue: The Talk and the Text
Appendix: English Sounds and Their Representation
Glossary
References and Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments to the Revised Edition
Index

What People are Saying About This

John Hollander

This is an excellent introduction to the history of our language for readers without knowledge of linguistics or even of early English language and literature itself. Lerer uses his engaging format to present and elucidate the considerable number of issues and concepts involving the study of usage, which have become part of the matter of the history of English.

— John Hollander, Yale University

Christopher Cannon

Lerer pays particular attention to some of the more important passages in the central texts of English literary history, but he is equally at home when analyzing more immediately popular works and always capable of discovering deep and general interest in the most startlingly simple places.

— Christopher Cannon, Cambridge University

Editorial Reviews

Lerer is not just a scholar (he's a professor of humanities at Stanford and the man behind the Teaching Company's audio and videotape series The History of the English Language); he's also a fan of English--his passion is evident on every page of this examination of how our language came to sound--and look--as it does and how words came to have their current meanings. He writes with friendly reverence of the masters--Chaucer, Milton, Johnson, Shakespeare, Twain--illustrating through example the monumental influence they had on the English we speak and write today (Shakespeare alone coined nearly 6,000 words). Anecdotes illustrate how developments in the physical world (technological advances, human migration) gave rise to new words and word-forms. With the invention of the telephone, for instance, a neutral greeting was required to address callers whose gender and social rank weren't known. America minted "hello" (derived from the maritime "ahoy"), and soon Twain enshrined the term in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Whether it's Lerer's close examination of the earliest surviving poem in English (the seventh-century Caedmon's Hymn) or his fresh perspective on Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, the book percolates with creative energy and will please anyone intrigued by how our richly variegated language came to be. (Apr.)

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

In 19 essays, Lerer (humanities, Stanford Univ.)--known for his "History of the English Language" audio and videotape series for the Teaching Company--presents his "portable assembly of encounters" with the English language, namely, a synopsis of contributions from figures as varied as seventh-century poet Caedmon and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Lerer aims to connect "individual experience and literary culture," typically examining quotations from literature, famous speeches, and even an email message. He includes lengthy quotes sometimes requiring translation from Old or Middle English. In this way, Lerer explains English-language development regarding word coining and borrowing, vowel shifts, and the role of such prominent publications as Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(1755). He also explores dialects and the impact of war on language. Following the works cited for each chapter are two appendixes consisting largely of phonetic symbols and a glossary of linguistic terms. Lerer's survey is distinct from other recent essay collections using a chronological approach (e.g., Linda Mugglestone's The Oxford History of English) or a more comprehensive, topical tack (e.g., Richard M. Hogg and David Denison's A History of the English Language). Recommended for academic libraries.
—Marianne Orme

Library Journal

The casual, witty, and sometimes provocative style in which the book is written provides a very apt vehicle for this very personal account.

Journal of English and Germanic Philology - Tim William Machan

Lerer not only navigates the shifting currents and boiling rapids of English, but also explores its secret coves.

Advocate - Rob Kyff

A personal, selective and impassioned journey through the history of English.

Times Higher Education Supplement

Inventing English is an invigorating read for the mind and the mouth.

Bloomsbury Review

An important and valuable source for anyone who loves the English language, and language in general.

Toronto Globe & Mail - Gale Zoe Garnett

A wonderful book. It's not hard to find well-informed books about the history of the English language, and it's not hard to find good critical accounts of English literature, but to have the two intertwined in one book is remarkable.

Language Hat

This absorbing book provides sufficient information about linguistics and early English language and literature for clarification... Essential.

Choice

[An] elegant book.

Vancouver Sun - Karenn Krangle

A fresh look at the history of the English language.

Magill Book Reviews - Cynthia Lee Katona

Interesting and informative.

Winnipeg Free Press - Tom Oleson

Erudite and accessible. [Lerer] brings both love and rigour to his subject.

Gale Zoë Garnett

An unusual linguistic and literary feast.

Michigan Quarterly Review - Anne Curzan

Fun and illuminating.

The Main Artery - Carol White

Written with real authority, enthusiasm, and love for our unruly and exquisite language.

The Washington Post - Michael Dirda

Nonspecialists will join scholars in praising this remarkable linguistic investigation.

Booklist - Bryce Christensen

Erudite and accessible. [Lerer] brings both love and rigour to his subject.

Globe & Mail - Gale Zoë Garnett

An unusual linguistic and literary feast.

Michigan Quarterly Review

Erudite and accessible.

Globe & Mail

Written with real authority, enthusiasm, and love for our unruly and exquisite language.

Washington Post

Lerer not only navigates the shifting currents and boiling rapids of English, but also explores its secret coves.

Advocate

"A personal, selective, and impassioned journey through the history of English."—Times Higher Education Supplement"An invigorating read for the mind and the mouth."—Bloomsbury Review"Lerer not only navigates the shifting currents and boiling rapids of English, but also explores its secret coves."—Advocate"[A] remarkable linguistic investigation."—Booklist"Written with real authority, enthusiasm, and love for our unruly and exquisite language."—Washington Post"The book percolates with creative energy and will please anyone intrigued by how our richly variegated language came to be."—Publishers Weekly"Erudite and accessible."—Globe & Mail"An unusual linguistic and literary feast."—Michigan Quarterly Review

From the Publisher

A personal, selective and impassioned journey through the history of English.

Time Magazines Higher Education Supplement

The casual, witty, and sometimes provocative style in which the book is written provides a very apt vehicle for this very personal account.

— Tim William Machan

Journal of English and Germanic Philology

Fun and illuminating.

— Carol White

The Main Artery

A fresh look at the history of the English language.

— Cynthia Lee Katona

Magill Book Reviews

[An] elegant book.

— Karenn Krangle

Vancouver Sun

Interesting and informative.

— Tom Oleson

Winnipeg Free Press

Written with real authority, enthusiasm, and love for our unruly and exquisite language.

— Michael Dirda

The Washington Post

An important and valuable source for anyone who loves the English language, and language in general.

— Gale Zoe Garnett

Toronto Globe & Mail

Nonspecialists will join scholars in praising this remarkable linguistic investigation.

— Bryce Christensen

Booklist