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The Story of Language
The Story Of Language
286 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1964
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 28, 2019
I wish I had read this book in 1994. That year I took the 100-level English lit paper at the University of Otago. I mainly took it for the points, and because English Iit was the subject I most enjoyed at school. I figured that even though I had no intention or desire to be a high school English teacher (you all know why), I was majoring in Economics so I figured I should also do a few papers I knew I would enjoy. Not for nothing is economics labelled the ‘dismal science’.
Anyway, the English lit paper started with Middle English. Chaucer to be exact. It almost made my head explode. To this day I can honestly say that it added no value to my life, except for the associated points toward my degree. I loved the rest of the paper, even though I had to read Northanger Abbey, one of the most depressing books ever, after Crime and Punishment. But again I digress.
This book takes a bit to get into. On the face of it, it appears rather a dry subject. But once you dive in and see how the English language in particular developed from its friends, neighbours, and invaders, it becomes very interesting. For instance, I always thought ‘by-law’ meant ‘little law’ or ‘ baby law’ or even ‘annoying but inconsequential law’. But I was wrong. ‘By’ means ‘village’ and comes from the Viking (Scandinavian) - as in Grimsby (Grim’s village) and by-law (village law).
The section on how language changes over time is very interesting. The idea that some of the words of our parent’s generation are old fashion, our children’s language is uncouth and lazy, and our own is, of course, the ‘normal/proper’ version, has happened to every generation since Noah. But with the advent of satellite TV, radio, and now the internet (the book was first written in 1964, my edition is from 1982), the divergence of language, dialects and accents has actually decreased. The hypothesis is that this is because international mass communication enables standardisation to be enhanced.
Some of the sections on allophones and phonemes can be quickly scanned with no loss of the main story. Unless you need to get some sleep. Very helpful then.
All high school English lit students should read this. Problem is, it is out of print and hard to find. Happy to lend it though. I also particularly recommend this to Deborah Ward and Marita Gibbs
Anyway, the English lit paper started with Middle English. Chaucer to be exact. It almost made my head explode. To this day I can honestly say that it added no value to my life, except for the associated points toward my degree. I loved the rest of the paper, even though I had to read Northanger Abbey, one of the most depressing books ever, after Crime and Punishment. But again I digress.
This book takes a bit to get into. On the face of it, it appears rather a dry subject. But once you dive in and see how the English language in particular developed from its friends, neighbours, and invaders, it becomes very interesting. For instance, I always thought ‘by-law’ meant ‘little law’ or ‘ baby law’ or even ‘annoying but inconsequential law’. But I was wrong. ‘By’ means ‘village’ and comes from the Viking (Scandinavian) - as in Grimsby (Grim’s village) and by-law (village law).
The section on how language changes over time is very interesting. The idea that some of the words of our parent’s generation are old fashion, our children’s language is uncouth and lazy, and our own is, of course, the ‘normal/proper’ version, has happened to every generation since Noah. But with the advent of satellite TV, radio, and now the internet (the book was first written in 1964, my edition is from 1982), the divergence of language, dialects and accents has actually decreased. The hypothesis is that this is because international mass communication enables standardisation to be enhanced.
Some of the sections on allophones and phonemes can be quickly scanned with no loss of the main story. Unless you need to get some sleep. Very helpful then.
All high school English lit students should read this. Problem is, it is out of print and hard to find. Happy to lend it though. I also particularly recommend this to Deborah Ward and Marita Gibbs
September 18, 2011
A fascinating look at the evolution of the English language. Reading this as a young teenager sparked my interest in language and linguistics.
December 25, 2024
This book should have been called The Story of the English Language. Although Barber does discuss other languages (connected to the Indo-European family) at the beginning, most of this book discusses the English language.
I am not sure for whom this was written. As a former English Language student I definitely loved the nostalgia of reading about Anglo-Saxons with their inflections, the Danelaw, and the intricacies of the Great Vowel shift again. However, although Barber wrote an accessible philological book, it tends to get bogged down by listing the many subtle changes that occurred through the centuries. This becomes even more problematic when these were not put in a table. Whenever Barber provided more context, more story, it caught my interest back again. Perhaps for this reason I liked The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg more.
Yet, for an actual language student the books feels falling short; just pinpointing some interesting titbits before moving on to the next change feels. Barber does provide some examples from Old English, Middle English and Early Modern English, but I would have appreciated a deeper dive.
If you want to skim English philology it is definitely a good place to start, as long as you don't try to memorize all the sound and spelling changes.
I am not sure for whom this was written. As a former English Language student I definitely loved the nostalgia of reading about Anglo-Saxons with their inflections, the Danelaw, and the intricacies of the Great Vowel shift again. However, although Barber wrote an accessible philological book, it tends to get bogged down by listing the many subtle changes that occurred through the centuries. This becomes even more problematic when these were not put in a table. Whenever Barber provided more context, more story, it caught my interest back again. Perhaps for this reason I liked The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg more.
Yet, for an actual language student the books feels falling short; just pinpointing some interesting titbits before moving on to the next change feels. Barber does provide some examples from Old English, Middle English and Early Modern English, but I would have appreciated a deeper dive.
If you want to skim English philology it is definitely a good place to start, as long as you don't try to memorize all the sound and spelling changes.
August 28, 2026
While I think this book could have explored the evolution of language more, I still think this is one of the finest ones, mainly for those wanting to explore the idea of language, the expansions, and the sculptings of language.
Want to Read
May 19, 2023It's a good book v informative
Want to Read
June 11, 2023want to read
Read
February 3, 2019good for history of english
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews