The Mother Tongue (book)

The Mother Tongue (book)

infobox Book |
name = The Mother Tongue
orig title =
translator =


author = Bill Bryson
cover_artist = Tom Curry
country =
language = English
series =
genre = Language
publisher = William Morrow & Company, Inc.
release_date = July 1990
media_type = Print
pages = 279
isbn = ISBN 0-888-07895-8
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Mother Tongue" (ISBN 0-888-07895-8) is a book by Bill Bryson which wittily compiles the history and origins of the English language and the language's various quirks. Subtitled "English And How It Got That Way". The book discusses the Indo-European origins of English, the growing status of English as a global language, the complex etymology of English words, the dialects of English, spelling reform, prescriptive grammar, and more minor topics including swearing. Bryson's account is a popularization of the subject, designed to entertain as well as to inform, and the book is sprinkled with trivia and language lore.

This book has also been published in Great Britain by Penguin Books under the title "Mother Tongue: The English Language" (ISBN 0-14-014305-X).


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