Book Review -- 6

Title of The Book : The English Language: A Historical Introduction

Author: Charles Barber

Publication: Cambridge University Press

                                First Published: 1993

                                Fifth Printing: 2004

Review:

Three years ago, when I was on bench, I visited our office library. I wanted to read an off-beat book and randomly pulled one from the shelf whose name read – The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Little did I know then that this book would turn out be one of the most important books I have ever read.

                Long story short, this book was informative, entertaining, gripping and enlightening.  Basically the book is about the history of the English language. But apart from the history, the book has so many layers to it you actually wonder if the name of the book is a misnomer.

The history of English language in itself is as fascinating as the history of mankind if not more. One thing about the book that impressed me the most is its narration. You would feel like you are reading a story book. The language is so simple that even a school student would be able to understand it; there are hardly any jargons out there in it. Second thing that impressed me the most is, its revelation of the hidden facts and information that any of us hardly knew before. You actually wonder how come such ridiculous amount of information can be crammed into one small book. Yes, the book is very small about 200 odd pages, thereby very much portable.

 Now, Let’s have a sneak peek at its contents. The book starts with explaining what a language is and how man is a special species because of his ability to speak a language. Then the author explains different sounds a man can utter, how each sound is generated from the different organs of the mouth and their phonetic symbols. Then the author has beautifully explained with examples how in a spoken language, the stress, rhythm and intonation are as important as grammar.  

In the next few chapters the authors explains the connection between English and Sanskrit! Surprised?

Read on. ‘Father’ in English is ‘Pitar’ in Sanskrit. ‘Brother’ is ‘Bhratar’, ‘Daughter’ is ‘Duhitar’, ‘Two’ is ‘Dwa’, ‘Nine’ is ‘Nava’ and so on. He explains that Sanskrit and English came from the same parent called Proto Indo European language. There is a beautiful flow chart in the book which shows how different languages of the world were derived from their parent languages.

In the further chapters the origin of English in the 8^th century from Anglo-Saxons and Jutes who settled in England is described. That was called Old English. After that English was heavily influenced by Greek and Latin, there by majority of English words formed from those languages.

Do you know that the French ruled England for couple centuries? Yes. And because of the Normans (French) conquest, most of the legal, administrative and artistic words flew into English from French language. Then how Old English evolved into Middle and then to the Modern English with The Great Vowel Shift is a fascinating read.

Along the way the author enumerates how the grammar, pronunciation and semantics (meaning) of English changed over the time before being standardized.

In the later chapters how colonialization led to the spread of English across the world and also how English loaned several words from the different languages of the world thereby making it the language with the largest vocabulary. Did you know that the word ‘Tank’ came into English originally from the Hindi word ‘Tanki’? Did you know the word ‘Curry’ was originally from Tamil? ‘Pub’ is a shortened version of ‘Public House’? These little unknown facts are the reason you don’t feel like putting down the book even for a second.

                The book explains how English is spoken differently in different parts of the world viz. England, America, Australia, South Africa, India, Caribbean Islands and so on.  It also explains the varying grammar, pronunciation and semantics of English words in each of those countries and also how Indians learn English as a second language while Europeans learn it as a foreign language.

The book ends explaining how the rise of the superpower USA has made English the official global language and it’s predicted that American English would rule the world in the future.

                When I finished reading it, I felt as if I had finished reading 10 books. I was pleased to have absorbed such enormous amount of knowledge and wisdom.   

 When I reached the penultimate page of the book, I was shocked to see that no one had borrowed that book in the last 6 years from the office library. Disappointing

Final Comments:

 English may not be the greatest language but today it is inevitable in our academic and professional lives. The problem with we Indians is, we are taught only written English in schools. Books like this go a long way in teaching us the correct pronunciation of words, correct stress and intonation which is very much required in the current demanding global world where we need to communicate with our clients across the globe at work. I recommend this book to every student, teacher or any adult who speaks or want to communicate in English. It’s a classic that should reside in every library and of course undusted..

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Book Review by : Sajid Ali Kalmani

                            : 7th Batch

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----- From OASIS : Thanks a lot for making this competition more better and knowledge sharing by your review ...