The Mother Tongue

Rating:
Summary: Neat history of the English language
Review: While this book was highly informative and an interesting read, it took me a while to get through it (I had to read half of it, put it down while I read Bag of Bones, and read the other half after that). Bryson is very funny, and writes at a very high level (if you like Dennis Miller, you'll love Bryson). I learned a lot about how English ended up the way it is, and even learned about some geography and history of the world along the way. All in all, a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Light-hearted, light-weight linguistics
Review: I enjoyed the humour and lightness of this book but I have read too many books on linguistics and, especially, the English language to be really informed by Mr Bryson's book. But having said that, the book is certainly not arduous to read. (My favourite books on language are the series Pelican Books published in the 1970s or 1980s - I remember especially 'Stylistics' by G Turner, but there were great books on phonetics, semantics, grammar, syntax etc etc - a fine indroduction to the study of language.)

The first half of Mr Bryson's book seemed to me to be well formed and had direction and inner logic that drove it along. But the latter half seems to be more of a grab-bag of bits and pieces (although I did enjoy the very last chapter on word games a lot). I was also disappointed at the emphasis on American English. Important though it is there are many other Englishes that ought to be considered. Unfortunately the small concessions to Australian English were often incorrect (for exasmple, Australians still call cookies 'biscuits' - although we may use the term cookie as well - we never call scones 'biscuits' as the American's do - this is certainly the mistake of an American perspective, not a British one!)

Rating:
Summary: Bryson makes me proud to be a native speaker
Review: While browsing in the linguistics section at a London bookshop, I came across this book. I had never heard of Bryson before, but the description on the back sounded so interesting, I bought it. Having just finished the book, I can only wonder how I managed to miss this guy's stuff all my life. This book is a fascinating journey through the history of English, the varieties of English in the world, spelling, pronunciation, and more. Bryson's style is fresh, funny, irreverent, and absorbing. I feel like I have found someone who loves nuance in language as much as I do, and is spot on when it comes to examining exactly the subtleties that get me fired up. Highly recommended to Anglophones interested in learning more about the language we call our own.

Rating:
Summary: Fun book, useful book about our crazy language
Review: One of our acquaintances in the foreign country where we live related this anecdote from his high school English class. A fellow student was having a really hard time. He was totally frustrated and exclaimed to the teacher "How can ze English people speak zis language! It is zo terrible!" The teacher explained to him that English speakers think in English, just as he thought in his own native tongue. "Zay can even SINK in English?!!!" He was completely demoralized by the thought that someone could think in another language than his own.

Many times we are asked to help people here refine their knowledge of English. This book has really helped us. The stories about the Celtic, Latin and Norman origins of English words are useful in understanding why we have so many synonyms for a single concept, and why there are such delicate shades of meaning (pork, for example, comes from the Norman "porc" while swine has an Old English-Teutonic origin. One is for the table, the other the barnyard.) Bill Bryson does a great job in making the story of English a fun romp through history and anyone studying English will find this a useful and also very amusing book, indeed.

If you like NPR commentator Richard Lederer's Miracle of Language, Crazy English and Anguished English, you will definitely love Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue.""

Rating:
Summary: Ok, you English lovers
Review: You know who you are. You savor the words "onomatopoeia" and "clerihew," a well written thesaurus is as good to you as any bestseller, and your copy of the OED is so well used that even the pages for the letter X are beginning to wear. You, friends, are the word people. Your love of the English language should be (if it already isn't) legendary, and Bill Bryson applauds such interest in his book "The Mother Tongue." He takes you through the ins and outs of our native language, from its Celtic beginnings through the Norman conquest and the Americanization of the world. While certain facts seem a bit out of place, and others seem downright weird, the feel of this book is what is its main attraction. This book is a portable copy of that doddery old English professor who made the language come to life for you in college, or perhaps the fresh-faced teacher you had in high school. Its informal tone lets you recognize, but forgive, its mistakes, and allows you to immerse yourself in one of the best of things: English.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent introduction to linguistics
Review: I've always been interested in linguistics, but never bothered to pursue it. After reading this book, I can say that I'm only more interested in the subject. As well as a brief history of the language, this book also goes over (albeit briefly) how our grammar relates to other languages. Similarly it compares other aspects of our languages with a couple others. It also contains a history of word games and swearing. Mostly this book is very lively reading, with the exception of where the author indulges himself in showing off his ability to pronounce English names. This book is an excellent introduction for anyone interesting in any aspect of the English langauge.

Rating:
Summary: Educational and Funny
Review: I bought this book because I study languages and I thought perhaps Bryson would offer some insight into my own language. He did a lot more than that. Bryson is a gifted writer and he obviously knows how to research his topic. He carefully weaves the history of English into idiosyncracies about present-day English, while referencing other languages through the entire book. You can learn about dialects and creoles, about the origins of many common words, and ponder Bryson's theory about the future of American English, all in the same book. My mind was constantly filled with anecdotes, most of which are very helpful. This book is simply fascinating because its topic is something we use and experience every day-- English, our mother tongue.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to read- -sloppy scholarship
Review: This book consists of a series of essays about various aspects of English. On the whole, the book is well-balanced between describing British and North American varieties of English. The writing style is quite fluid and the book is, for the most part, very enjoyable to read. However, Bryson was not always careful about the quality of his scholarship; he often gets his facts confused or repeats "factoids" that are known to be false. On page 14, for instance, he makes reference to the old Eskimo snow vocabulary myth, claiming that Eskimos have 50 words for snow (see The Great Eskimo Snow Hoax for a more accurate account). On p. 107 he manages to associate the Martha's Vineyard pronunciation research with Trudgill instead of Labov. Since he makes so many errors, a reader can't tell for certain whether the remaining material is trustworthy. Readers of this book may find themselves more misinformed than informed.

Rating:
Summary: watch your sources
Review: The book swings, but has an element of Ripley's Believe or not to it. When I was a graduate student in linguistics way back in 1964 I was graded down from an A to a B for quoting the "charlatan" Mario Pei, The Story of English, 1948. Bryson is still using him in 1998. I was planning on using Mother Tongue for a class, but its scholarship is suspect. Lots of fun for the lay reader.

Rating:
Summary: entertaining writing, linguistically inaccurate
Review: 'The Mother Tongue' is an entertaining book with many interesting anecdotes only vaguely related to language. But then again, Mr. Bryson never pretended that his book was supposed to be anything else. Where the book falters, however, is on the point of factual accuracy. There are many, many errors in this book - some of them minor (spelling mistakes), while others are major (claiming other languages have no thesauri). Most of these things were probably wrong in the primary literature he read, but there is really no need to perpetuate these mistakes. This book should be read with a pinch of salt.