Product Description

From Sanskrit to Scouse, this book provides a single-volume source of information about the English language. The guide is intended both for reference and for browsing. The international perspective takes in language from Cockney to Creole, Aboriginal English to Zummerzet, Estuary English to Caribbean English and a historical range from Beowulf to Ebonics, Chaucer to Chomsky, Latin to the World Wide Web. There is coverage of a wide range of topics from abbreviation to Zeugma, Shakespeare to split infinitive and substantial entries on key subjects such as African English, etymology, imperialism, pidgin, poetry, psycholinguistics and slang. Box features include pieces on place-names, the evolution of the alphabet, the story of OK, borrowings into English, and the Internet. Invaluable reference for English Language students, and fascinating reading for the general reader with an interest in language.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #396753 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 712 pages

From Library Journal
If a telephone reference caller asks what deconstructionism is--or for the difference between a spondee and a dactyl, or for a clarification of Nice-Nellyism or the Gunning Fog Index--this is the source to reach for. The range here is wonderfully broad: language history, dialects, grammar, style, rhetoric, and so forth. A typical Oxford "Companion," this is both authoritative and fun. Articles are thorough, concise, and signed; cross-referencing is excellent; the ancient and au courant receive equal treatment; and the scope is global. Some will quibble (yes, quibble has an entry, but it's a cross reference to pun ); e.g., sundry authors who "influenced the shape or study of language" have entries, so that Mary Wollstonecraft is listed but Ruskin is not (although "Pathetic Fallacy" is). And the occasional bibliographies are perfunctory afterthoughts. Nevertheless, this is a fine book for reference and browsing. Highly recommended.
- Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for The Oxford Companion to the English Language:
"This is one of the big dreams for most writers, for an addition to their research shelf. It's the ultimate in authority for spelling, definition, and first use."--The San Diego Tribune
"A superb survey."--Library Journal
"Invaluable."--Choice

Ingram
A language-lover's dream, this companion to our 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, child language acquisition, sexist language, and much more.

Customer Reviews

Everything you need to know about literary terminology
This book is one of the better purchases I have ever made. Every time I need a detail about the English language, literary devices and terminology, or grammatical usage, this book always has a couple of paragraphs to explain what I need to know -- and usually a handful of cross references to related topics. All with the usual careful and thorough treatment you expect from Oxford. Every library should have a copy of this book.

The Oxford Companion to the English Language
There are many things I would like to know about the English Language, but too few of them are here. For example the history of English is disposed of in three pages. I should have liked to have seen 30 or so. To be sure there are other historical entries, though insufficient cross referencing. The chronology following the above entry is largely of English history rather than of language history. In place of these things are pages of information one could do without; trivia relating to broadcasting or editions of dictionaries. A topical index would have been nice. Every true philologist will nonetheless want this work.

The perfect bathroom book for English-language junkies.
"Companion" well describes this book. People who love English for its own sake can flip open any page and start reading, and soon find themselves cross-referencing through the whole volume (and learning a lot). Not as essential as a dictionary or style guide, but a way to broaden your understanding of this marvellous, terrifying language and its relatives. For true language junkies, this is not for the bookshelf, but for the bathroom, to read in bits at leisure.