Unlocking the English Language

by Robert Burchfield

At a time when many people fear that the English language is entering a period of serious decline, the author of this book takes a more optimistic view. He believes that it is imperative to see modern English as a rich and diverse linguistic system deposited on our shores some 1,500 years ago, and left with us unweakened, though substantially changed, by the social and political events of the intervening period. Part 1 of this book is based on the T.S. Eliot Memorial Lectures delivered at the University of Kent at Canterbury in November 1988, which cover a wide range of topics in English lexicography and grammar. Part 2 consists of eight essays written between 1973 and 1987 and now brought together for the first time.

Genres: Language

202 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Tiger Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contrary to expectations set by the title, Unlocking the English Language is hardly an introductory work. Unlike other popular language monographs — some written, in fairness, by Burchfield — the English language will feel no less enchained after reading this than it did prior. Though to extend the metaphor perhaps a bit too far, you might end up with a newfound appreciation for the lock.

Burchfield was one of the 20th century’s most respected lexicographers. After three decades as an editor at the Oxford English Dictionary, he decided to spend retirement the way we all might: re-examining, in his words, the grammar of English.

What follows in this book (a collection of four lectures and eight mildly related essays) can best be described as a wondrous curio. In meticulously attributed and workmanlike prose, Burchfield offers his thoughts on the cutthroat business of dictionaries, the origins of American English, the work of T S Eliot, and more.

In a refreshing change from many lexicographer-cum-memoirists, Burchfield is opinionated — stroppy, even. Synchronic approaches to linguistics (conversational analysis, systemic functional grammars) get a lashing, with the author bemoaning the “zoom lens and electron microscope” approach to analysing the langue. A biographical sketch of the Fowlers, too, is notable for its rearguard defence of the celebrated (later condemned) usage manual authors.

There’s a fair amount of assumed knowledge here, but Burchfield is great company — if you can keep up.

[Constantine]

Hardback