[Lexicog] Shakespeare's contributions (?)

[Rudolph Troike]

Thanks to Fred Shapiro for disabusing us of the myth of Shakespeare's
alleged "coinages". Like Chaucer, he mainly made use of the linguistic
material already available to him. This of course in no way detracts
from the unique art which he produced with this material.

One of my students forwarded to me a link to a National Public Radio
interview with Seth Lehrer of Stanford University, who has apparently
recently published a book on the history of English words. The program
lasts 45 minutes, and includes telephone calls and another interviewee.
My impression, without seeing the book, is that Lehrer follows the
traditional "great author" (similar to historians' "great man") approach
to the history of English, ignoring the millions of individual inter-
actions which ultimately are responsible for change. (The link should
be playable on Winamp or Realplayer.)

    http://clients.moiagroup.com/pooh/Inventing_English.mp3

  -- Rudy Troike





 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:lexicographylist-digest at yahoogroups.com 
    mailto:lexicographylist-fullfeatured at yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/