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The wild, wacky, and sometimes baffling road the English language takes in its astonishing evolution. Did you know that the newly minted term in Japanese for visiting Tokyo's Disneyland translates as "flogging the mouse"? Were you aware that words now move across languages not over decades but at cut-and-paste speed? Beginning with the eye-popping prediction that by 2015 half the world's population will be learning English or speaking it, Mark Abley turns his eagle eye on how English is roaming wild around the world, sucking in words--vacuum-cleaner style--from wherever it can get them. Whether you're speaking it as a first language in London, or a third in Singapore, you are affected by the language's breakneck rate of change. From hip-hop lyrics to text messages and blogs, from the effects of global English and Asian English to Spanglish, the author investigates what the future is likely to hold for the ways we communicate. Evocative and thoughtful, yet always lively, this is a book for anyone who cherishes the words we use.

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarperCollins

ISBN-100618571221

ISBN-139780618571222

eBay Product ID (ePID)63448712

Product Key Features

Number of Pages272 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameProdigal Tongue : Dispatches from the Future of English

Publication Year2008

SubjectCommunication Studies, Grammar & Punctuation, Multi-Language Dictionaries, Speech, Linguistics / General

TypeLanguage Course

Subject AreaForeign Language Study, Language Arts & Disciplines

AuthorMark Abley

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.8 in

Item Weight16.7 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

LCCN2008-007270

Dewey Edition22

Target AudienceTrade

Dewey Decimal420/.9

Lc Classification NumberPe1074.7.A35 2008

Table of Content1. Roarific: The Power of Language Change 1 2. Bouncebackability: How Words Are Created and Organized 25 3. Throw Away Your Dictionaries: Asian English 54 4. Your Rule Will Soon Be Here: Global English 78 5. Hippu Hangu: Language in Japan 101 6. Radiante: Languages in Los Angeles 122 7. Every Single Trend: Black English and Hip-Hop 144 8. words@future.now: Language in Cyberspace 167 9. Whoa, How Very: Words and the Fictional Future 193 10. The Soul's Ozone: Keeping Language Real 216 Acknowledgments 237 Recommended Reading 239 Index 249

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The Prodigal Tongue : Dispatches from the Future of English by Mark Abley (2008, Hardcover)