"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Softcover. Condition: New. Language is the life blood of a culture, and to be interested in culture is in some sense to be interested in language, in the shapes and sounds of words, in the history of reading, writing, and speech, in the endless variety of dialects and slangs, in the incessant creativity of the humanmind as it reaches out to others. It is surprising then that until now there has been no major one-volume reference devoted to the most widely dispersed and influential language of our time: the English language.A language-lover's dream, The Oxford Companion to the English Language is a thousand-page cornucopia covering virtually every aspect of the English language as well as language in general. The range of topics is remarkable, offering a goldmine of information on writing and speech (includingentries on grammar, literary terms, linguistics, rhetoric, and style) as well as on such wider issues as sexist language, bilingual education, child language acquisition, and the history of English. There are biographies of Shakespeare, Noah Webster, Noam Chomsky, James Joyce, and many others whohave influenced the shape or study of the language; extended articles on everything from psycholinguistics to sign language to tragedy; coverage of every nation in which a significant part of the population speaks English as well as virtually every regional dialect and pidgin (from Gullah and Scouseto Cockney and Tok Pisin). In addition, the Companion provides bibliographies for the larger entries, generous cross-referencing, etymologies for headwords, a chronology of English from Roman times to 1990, and an index of people who appear in entries or bibliographies. And like all OxfordCompanions, this volume is packed with delightful surprises. We learn, for instance, that the first Professor of Rhetoric at Harvard later became President (John Quincy Adams); that "slogan" originally meant "war cry"; that the keyboard arrangement QWERTY became popular not because it was efficientbut the opposite (it slows down the fingers and keeps them from jamming the keys); that "mbenzi" is Swahili for "rich person" (i.e., one who owns a Mercedes Benz); and that in Scotland, "to dree yir ain weird" means "to follow your own star."From Scrabble to Websters to TESOL to Gibraltar, the thirty-five hundred entries here offer more information on a wider variety of topics than any other reference on the English language. Featuring the work of nearly a hundred scholars from around the world, this unique volume is the idealshelf-mate to The Oxford Companion to English Literature. It will captivate everyone who loves language. Seller Inventory # DADAX019214183X
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. New. Seller Inventory # 27-07554
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_019214183X
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard019214183X
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think019214183X
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover019214183X
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. **WILL SHIP WITHIN 24-48 HOURS WITH TRACKING**. Seller Inventory # 7838
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # NHAE-0263
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # XG-074
Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 4.1. Seller Inventory # Q-019214183X