Damp Squid: The English Language Laid BareHow many words are there in the English language and where were they born? Why does spelling 'wobble' and why do meanings change? How do words behave towards each other - and how do we behave towards words? And what does this all mean for dictionary-making in the 21st century? This entertaining book has the up-to-date and authoritative answers to all the key questions about our language. Using evidence provided by the world's largest language databank, the Oxford English Corpus, Butterfield exposes the English language's peculiarities and penchants, its development and difficulties, revealing exactly how it operates. Interpolating his expert knowledge of dictionary-making, Butterfield explains how dictionaries decide which words to include, how they find definitions, and how a Corpus influences the process. Whether you are happy to give the language free rein (free reign?), or whether you are more straight-laced (strait-laced?) when it comes to change, you will be amazed at what is revealed when the English language goes buck naked. (Or should that be butt naked?) |
Contents
| 1 | |
How many words? | 10 |
Where do words come from? | 21 |
Why spelling wobbles | 48 |
4 Which is to be master? Meaning in context | 64 |
Word groupings | 85 |
Idiomatic phrases | 102 |
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Common terms and phrases
adjective American Anglosphere appears back-formed bank BBC London 94.9 Bill Bryson bird blog British cats and dogs cent century Chapter collocations common words context corpora Corpus shows Corpus suggests correct usage create criteria David Crystal describe dictionary makers Dictionary of English dictionary writers eccentric eggcorns English Language English speakers English Usage English words ET’s example folk etymology French Geoff German Greek hyphen idea idiomatic phrases idioms instance J. R. Firth Janus words Johnson kind Latin lemmas letters linguistic London look metaphor million modern English naked noun occurs Old English original Oxford English Dictionary Oxford University Press Pease pudding people’s person plural pronounced pronunciation Queen’s English question quintessential quotations rage raining refer schwa seems sense sentence singular sometimes sound Spanish spelling style syntax Table Alphabeticall tell There’s things Vanessa Feltz verb vocabulary words and phrases words mean write
Bibliographic information
| Title | Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare |
| Author | Jeremy Butterfield |
| Publisher | OUP Oxford, 2008 |
| ISBN | 0191587532, 9780191587535 |
| Length | 192 pages |
| Subjects | › Language Arts & Disciplines / General Reference / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |