Mother Tongue

Language

Mother Tongue

Bill Bryson

                History of a language i.e. chronicle of its growth and its inherent failings and merits, will make a dreary essay in the hands of most authors. But not when written by Bill Bryson who has a penchant for converting most mundane topics under the sun into a funny, highly readable story and this time he turns his gaze on English Language.

                He meticulously chronicles the growth of the language, origin of the devious pronunciation and spellings, vagaries of its apparently unreasonable grammar, varied dialects of English and their origin and much more in his characteristic irreverent humour but without being facile. He explains the differences between American and British English, emphasises on their likeness and touches on the controversies which surround them. He even devotes full chapters to such esoteric topics as names, swearing and wordplay and makes them interesting and informing with his deft skills and brilliant writing.

                Book is full of startling facts. How many of us knew that Shakespeare is spelled Shakspere in Oxford English Dictionary and Shakespeare himself spelled his name in three different ways in one document, that in old days ‘to tell’ meant ‘to count’  and that’s why a teller in the banks, that ‘shrift’ and ‘kin’ in ‘giving a short shrift’ and ‘kith and kin’ are fossil words. Book is assiduously researched, data and information is presented in a coherent and pleasing format and told as a story, not like an academic treatise.

                This book is a must read for all fans of this lovely language.