The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park - Jack Lynch
Shared by:anansisan
Written by
Read by Anthony Gettig
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged
For language buffs and lexicographers, copy editors and proofreaders, and anyone who appreciates the connection between language and culture—the illuminating story of “proper English.”
In its long history, the English language has had many lawmakers—those who have tried to regulate, or otherwise organize, the way we speak. The Lexicographer’s Dilemma offers the first narrative history of these endeavors, showing clearly that what we now regard as the only “correct” way to speak emerged out of specific historical and social conditions over the course of centuries.
As literary historian Jack Lynch has discovered, every rule has a human history, and the characters peopling his narrative are as interesting for their obsession as for their erudition. The struggle between prescriptivists, who prescribe a correct approach, and descriptivists, who analyze how language works, is at the heart of Lynch’s story. From the sharp-tongued satirist Jonathan Swift, who called for a government sponsored academy to issue rulings on the language, and the polymath Samuel Johnson, who put dictionaries on a new footing, to John Horne Tooke, the crackpot linguist whose bizarre theories continue to baffle scholars; Joseph Priestley, whose political radicalism prompted riots; and the ever-crotchety Noah Webster, whose goal was to Americanize the English language—Lynch brings to life a varied cast as illuminating as it is entertaining.
Grammatical “rules” or “laws” are not like the law of gravity, or laws against theft or murder—they’re more like rules of etiquette, made by fallible people and subject to change. Charting the evolution of English, Jack Lynch puts today’s debates—whether about Ebonics in the schools or split infinitives in the New York Times—in a rich historical context, and makes us appreciate anew the hard-won standards we now enjoy.
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| Creation Date: | Wed, 29 Apr 2015 23:06:37 -0400 |
| This is a Multifile Torrent | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma.jpg 51.87 KBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma.txt 2.03 KBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)01.mp3 6.58 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)02.mp3 1.36 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)03.mp3 17.19 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)04.mp3 21.2 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)05.mp3 21.66 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)06.mp3 23.66 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)07.mp3 22.45 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)08.mp3 24.31 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)09.mp3 27.12 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)10.mp3 24.32 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)11.mp3 22.05 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)12.mp3 23 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)13.mp3 25.2 MBs | |
| The Lexicographer’s Dilemma_ The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Unabridged)14.mp3 26.48 MBs | |
| Combined File Size: | 286.63 MBs |
| Piece Size: | 256 KBs |
| Comment: | Updated by AudioBook Bay |
| Encoding: | UTF-8 |
| Info Hash: | 513f03226ef530dbda2842b10a43a050294131fe |
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This post has 3 comments
April 30th, 2015
Thanks! That looks interesting.
April 30th, 2015
Have to agree with Nylon’s comment - this does look interesting! :) Thanks!
August 13th, 2015
This book was really good and really interesting. There were a few parts where the left and right channels don’t perfectly sync. It is still listenable, but using only one earbud is recommended for those parts.
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