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History and Current Events April 2021
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| Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca by John McWhorterWhat it is: a thought-provoking and accessible collection of essays on Black English, formerly known as Ebonics.
Topics include: Black English's origins and history (including its usage in 19th-century minstrel shows); debates surrounding its grammatical complexity and legitimacy; code-switching.
About the author: Linguist and Columbia University professor John McWhorter is the author of Words on the Move. |
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Do you speak American? : a companion to the PBS television series
by Robert MacNeil
What is this: In a companion volume to the PBS series, the authors of The Story of English offer a witty and insightful look at the origins, history, and current state of American spoken and written language, looking at the linguistic quirks and traditions that exist in diverse regions of the country and assessing the influence of e-mail, ethnic boundaries, and other factors on the language.
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Spoken soul : the story of Black English
by John R. Rickford
What is this: Recounts the history of Black English, describes its influence on American language and society, and discusses the controversies that have arisen over its teaching and use.
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Speaking American : a history of English in the United States
by Richard W. Bailey
What this is: Investigates the history and continuing evolution of American English, from the 16th century to the present, to celebrate the endless variety and remarkable inventiveness that have always been at the heart of our language. By the author of Images of English: A Cultural History of the Language.
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Splendiferous speech : how early Americans pioneered their own brand of English
by Rosemarie Ostler
This is a downloadable eBook on CMRLS.Freading.com
What this is: it explores the historical sources of the American vernacular, tracing our country's linguistic independence back to the expanding western frontier, the bumptious world of politics, and the sensation-filled pages of popular nineteenth-century newspapers"
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The Adventure of English : The Biography of a Language
by Melvyn Bragg
This is a downloadable eBook on CMRLS.Freading.com
What this is: A history of the English language traces its evolution from a gutteral Germanic dialect around 500 A.D. to its modern global form, noting the influence of such groups and individuals as the early Anglo-Saxon tribes, Alfred the Great, and William Shakespeare.
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The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between
by Patrick Foote
This is a downloadable eBook on CMRLS.Freading.com
What this is: What is something that literally everything in existence has in common? It all has a name! With The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between, you can learn the origins of these monikers. From countries and cities to toys and animals to even planets, learn the etymology of interesting words in a fun and entertaining way.
Why you might like this: After reading this book, you will:- >Know why, exactly, Russia is called Russia
>Be able to entertain yourself and your friends with interesting fun facts >Discover the origins of the names of planets, animals, countries, and much more
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The mother tongue : English & how it got that way
by Bill Bryson
This is a downloadable eBook on CMRLS.Freading.com
What this is: Provides a humorous history of the English language covering such topics as spelling, pronunciation, swearing, and wordplay. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can’t), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world’s largest growth industries.
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Amglish in, like, ten easy lessons : a celebration of the new world lingo
by Arthur E. Rowse
What this is: One of the world's leading linguists recently wrote: "We may be seeing the birth of a new language as yet without a name." He was referencing the new informal mixture of English and other languages being freely formed around the world, with little effort to conform to prescribed rules of grammar, syntax, or spelling. Amglish in, Like, Ten Easy Lessons: A Celebration of the New World Lingo, by Arthur Rowse with illustrations by John Doherty, offers both a name for this new language and an enjoyable guide on how one can learn to use the language through ten easy "lessons." The authors describe how Amglish, or American English influenced by online grammar and syntax, has begun to dominate our global language.
Why you might like it: Featuring an ironic manual on how to use this developing language, Amglish is a light and highly entertaining addition to the recent literature on grammar and punctuation. Illustrated with original drawings throughout, the book shows readers how to improve their Amglish and have fun doing so.
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Alphabet juice : the energies, gists, and spirits of letters, words, and combinations thereof, their roots, bones, innards, piths, pips, and secret parts, tinctures, tonics, and essences, with examples of their usage foul and savory
by Roy Blount
What this is: A celebration of letters and their combinations as used outside of their "proper" applications builds on the spirit of Sir Thomas Blount's Blount's Glossographia to challenge beliefs about the arbitrary relationship between words and their meanings, in a lighthearted lexicon that draws on modern resources to reveal the organic nature of the English language.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Central Mississippi Regional Library System
100 Tamberline Street
Brandon, Mississippi 39042
601-825-0100
http://www.cmrls.lib.ms.us
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