32.2772, Books: Highly Irregular: Okrent

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-2772. Mon Aug 30 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.2772, Books: Highly Irregular: Okrent

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Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2021 10:27:49
From: Tyler Simnick [Tyler.Simnick at oup.com]
Subject: Highly Irregular: Okrent

 


Title: Highly Irregular 
Subtitle: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme—And Other Oddities of the English
Language 
Publication Year: 2021 
Publisher: Oxford University Press
	   http://www.oup.com/us
	

Book URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/highly-irregular-9780197539408?utm_source=linguistlist&utm_medium=listserv&utm_campaign=linguistics 


Author: Arika Okrent

Hardback: ISBN:  9780197539408 Pages: 272 Price: U.S. $ 19.95


Abstract:

Maybe you've been speaking English all your life, or maybe you learned it
later on. But whether you use it just well enough to get your daily business
done, or you're an expert with a red pen who never omits a comma or misplaces
a modifier, you must have noticed that there are some things about this
language that are just weird.

Perhaps you're reading a book and stop to puzzle over absurd spelling rules
(Why are there so many ways to say '-gh'?), or you hear someone talking and
get stuck on an expression (Why do we say "How dare you" but not "How try
you"?), or your kid quizzes you on homework (Why is it "eleven and twelve"
instead of "oneteen and twoteen"?). Suddenly you ask yourself, "Wait, why do
we do it this way?" You think about it, try to explain it, and keep running
into walls. It doesn't conform to logic. It doesn't work the way you'd expect
it to. There doesn't seem to be any rule at all.

There might not be a logical explanation, but there will be an explanation,
and this book is here to help.

In Highly Irregular, Arika Okrent answers these questions and many more. Along
the way she tells the story of the many influences--from invading French
armies to stubborn Flemish printers--that made our language the way it is
today. Both an entertaining send-up of linguistic oddities and a deeply
researched history of English, Highly Irregular is essential reading for
anyone who has paused to wonder about our marvelous mess of a language.
 



Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
                     Sociolinguistics

Subject Language(s): English (eng)


Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=155634




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