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Published May 2008
336 pages
Genre: Other
Publication Information
David Crystal has been described by the Times Higher Education Supplement as a "latter-day Samuel Johnson." Now, in a delightfully discursive journey through the groves and thickets of the English language, Crystal sets off again, combining personal reflections, historical allusions, and traveler's observations to create a mesmerizing and entertaining narrative account of his encounters with the language and its speakers.
Starting in his home of Wales and moving from England all the way to Poland and off to San Francisco, Crystal encounters numerous linguistic side roads that he cannot resist exploring. All are subject to Crystal's inquisitive exploration--from pubs to trains to Tolkien--and each digression casts new light on the development of English as it is spoken today.
By Hook or By Crook is a linguistic travelogue like no other, and an attempt to capture the seductive, quirky, teasing, tantalizing nature of the language itself--a jaunty Bill Bryson-esque exploration of language by a foremost expert on the subject.
"Starred Review. An informative, transformative trip into the mysterious, mutating, magical thicket of English." - Kirkus Reviews.
"In a conversational style that includes plenty of quirky facts, Crystal captures the "exploratory, seductive, teasing, quirky, tantalizing nature of language study," and in doing so illuminates the fascinating world of words in which we live." - Publishers Weekly.
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Photo: Crystal Business Partnership
David works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1941, he spent his early years in Holyhead. His family moved to Liverpool in 1951, and he received his secondary schooling at St Mary's College. He read English at University College London (1959-62), specializing in English language studies, did some research there at the Survey of English Usage under Randolph Quirk (1962-3), then joined academic life as a lecturer in linguistics, first at Bangor, then at Reading.
He published the first of his 100 or so books in 1964, and became known chiefly for his research work in English language studies, in such fields as intonation and stylistics, and in the application of linguistics to religious, ...
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