{"id":1777,"date":"2011-09-24T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-24T08:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=1777"},"modified":"2011-09-12T09:09:06","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T07:09:06","slug":"the-english-language-opinions-and-prejudices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=1777","title":{"rendered":"The English language: Opinions and prejudices"},"content":{"rendered":"
The last word: The English language: Opinions and prejudices<\/strong>. By Laurence Urdang<\/strong>. Chicago: KWS Publishers, 2010. Pp. xxi, 281. ISBN 9780780811713<\/a>. $19.95.<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan<\/a><\/strong>, State University at Campinas, Brazil<\/em><\/p>\n

A publisher\u2019s note announces this book as a \u2018fascinating account of the current state of the English language\u2019 (xxi). The book is indeed entertaining. The overall tone is, however, one of lamentation at how things have come to pass and how the English language is being mauled and mistreated. The avowedly highbrow standpoint is evident in the opening sentence of the introductory chapter: \u2018Sometimes, when listening to what people say on radio and television, I get the feeling that the Ministry of Bad Grammar and Pronunciation, courtesy of John Cleese, has taken charge\u2019 (xv).<\/p>\n

As a professional lexicographer and founder of the journal Verbatim<\/em>, U is punctilious, often to the point of sounding nitpicky. The thirteen chapters that make up the book cover a wide range of topics, as their telltale headings reveal: \u2018Language change\u2019, \u2018Word origins\u2019, \u2018Meaning\u2019, \u2018Words and expressions\u2019, \u2018Language and (sic) culture and language\u2019, \u2018Names\u2019, \u2018Feminist and politically correct language\u2019, \u2018Good English\/bad English\u2019, \u2018Taboo, slang, informal, and colloquial language\u2019, \u2018Bad writing, taste, and discrimination\u2019, \u2018Spelling reform\u2019, \u2018Controversies and dictionaries\u2019, \u2018Computers\u2019, and \u2018Pronunciation\u2019. The book is rounded off with an appendix (containing a verse called \u2018The chaos\u2019 about English spelling, from an old submission to Verbatim<\/em>) and a useful index.<\/p>\n

The book does not have any pretensions to being a scientifically oriented treatment of the topics it discusses, though in the foreword U laments (or so it would seem) that \u2018[a]t present, only a handful of universities offer degrees in linguistics\u2019 ( xi). With reference to the study of names or onomastics, U says that it is undertaken mostly by persons who do not \u2018possess a formal education in linguistics\u2019 (89). While discussing \u2018good\u2019 versus \u2018bad\u2019 in respect of English usage, U begins by referring to the familiar tug-of-war between linguists and the laypeople. Yet, despite all this, U\u2019s own approach to usages such as between he and I<\/em> (111) or phenomena such as dangling participle is flagrantly prescriptive. U does not resist a jibe at Robert Hall Jr. whose \u2018attack on correctness and normative grammar\u2019 was, in his view, \u2018somewhat mitigated by his quickness to correct others\u2019 errors\u2019 (227). U does seem to have a bone to pick with professional linguists and their stance against dictating how others should behave linguistically.<\/p>\n

The book is mostly anecdotal and, oftentimes, witty. It becomes somewhat tongue-in-cheek when U claims at the end of his introduction: \u2018The unfortunate aspect of this book is that it is unlikely to be read by those for whom it might do the most good\u2019 (xix). Such frivolities aside, the book is an enjoyable read, testifying to U\u2019s years of scholarly work. It is replete with tidbits useful for livening up an after-dinner conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last word: The English language: Opinions and prejudices. By Laurence Urdang. Chicago: KWS Publishers, 2010. Pp. xxi, 281. ISBN 9780780811713. $19.95. Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan, State University at Campinas, Brazil A publisher\u2019s note announces this book as a \u2018fascinating account of the current state of the English language\u2019 (xxi). The book is indeed entertaining. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1777"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1779,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions\/1779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}