Seven Books on the English Language

I know the title sounds ambitious. As I practice to write in good English, the English language inevitably draws me to itself per se. I wonder about its history; I am curious to know its lexicon; and I desire to acquire  or develop a good style. So, I gorged on the following seven books about English on my shelf, and here are some of the things I learned.

Bryson, Bill. The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way. Haper Perennial: 2001.

First published in 1990, my copy was a reissue by HaperCollins ten years afterwards. A sign of the book's longevity.

Bryson is very prolific; The Mother Tongue is only one of his three books on the English language. Consulting  at least 112 pieces of publication, he dabs by chapter on the history, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, style, lexicography, variety, status and future of the English language. Every chapter  can be (and has been) blown into a big volume by different authors, which renders Bryson's quite fit for a beginner on the subject matter. I picked up this copy at the airport and read it on the plane.

As Bryson explains, the English language is "order out of chaos", whose felicities include fusion (like trusteeship consists of  a Nordic stem trust, a French affix ee and an Old English root ship), democracy (common usage is preferred to authoritative dictate) and global presence empowered by entertainment, business, tourism and so on. Guess what language does the Belgium National Football Team use in the dressing room? English.

Hitchings, Henry. The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English. Picador: 2008.

The drift of the book is borrowing.

Along the way English picks up loanwords either voluntarily or involuntarily. In addition to Latin and Greek, French, Arabic, Persian, Spanish, Portuguese, Native American tongues, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Australian, New Zealand, South Africa, Oceanic languages, Indian, Chinese, Yiddish, Ebonics and Romanian also top the list of 350 origins for English loanwords, and Hitchings dedicates each a chapter or at least a paragraph for clarification.

Different loanwords come by different routes, indicating what the language (thereby the nation) is admired for and the contact history between English and non-English languages. For instance, with Arabic borrowing come new concept and commerce; Italian loanwords are mostly about flora, religion, drama, music and art; while Japanese influence focuses on food, drink, martial arts and pop culture.

Linguistic purity is no go; Hitchings even feels grateful that in the history of English, no police was authorized to prevent loanwords. Instead, authors like Chaucer or Shakespeare that audaciously introduced so many words and phrases to English are real heroes.

Lynch, Jack. The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of "Proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park. Walker: 2009. 

But there are so many heroes other than Chaucer and Shakespeare! Whether subscribing to prescription (to prescribe what's right and wrong) or description (to analyze how language works without any regard for whether it's good or bad),  they all contribute to the debate that propels English to advance to the status of a global language. Professor Lynch's book on lexicographers, "an attempt to understand where these so-called rules came from and why...[and] every rule has a human history" (p. 5), makes each and every of these heroes has his proper place.

How I wish there were such brilliant and dedicated minds as Samuel Johnson, James Murray, Noah Webster or George Bernard Shaw for the language of Paiwan! I wish the language could just fly, be beautiful, and be itself. I want to love the language because it's beautiful for the world, not because it's politically correct.

Winchester, Simon. The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Oxford English Dictionary. Penguin: 1998.

In the making the Oxford English Dictionary, two volunteers especially stood out: "both were Americans, both spent time in India, both were soldiers, both were mad" (p. 147). One was a professor of Sanskrit at Oxford before he quit over a row with a colleague, Dr. Fitzedward Hall; the other was the protagonist of the book, Dr. William Chester Minor, who spent his life in several asylums since 1872 until he passed away in 1920.

Dr. Minor was a sad case. He served in the American Civil War as an assistant surgeon, but was too sensitive for the bloodshed. He then suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, accidentally murdered a man on the street of London and was sentenced to asylum for an indefinite period. Nobody could guess it would be a lexicographical that should alleviate his pathological conditions. When the chief editor, James Murray, sent out an invitation for volunteers, Dr. Minor soon signed up and made the most impressive contribution by sending in words and quotations selected from books published in 17th and 18th centuries.

Mad and a murderer. Yes, but also a true lover of the English language.

Strunk, William Jr. & E. B. White. The Elements of Style. Pearson: 1979, 2000. 

Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Profile Boos: 2003. 

Norris, Mary. Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen. Norton: 2015.

Even with words and grammar ready, yet still how should one write? Here are three books on punctuation and style. The first one is a classic must-read for all; the second, a straightforward account from a punctuation stickler that speaks British English; and the third an auto-career-biography from an experienced editor at The New Yorker based in the Big Apple. It is interesting to compare how the last two approach the same topic from two sides of the Atlantic. Truss quotes significant histories to be her advocates, while Norris engages with contemporary writers for support. As said, the pie is always bigger for one.

Despite of the authors' confessions and narratives, all three books are prescriptive in nature, which precisely is the point! They are guidebooks for writers who aspire to write good English for a successful communication with readers. Some reminders are obvious, even funny, while some are subtle, worth "getting wet all over" with (Strunk & White, p. 85).

The golden principle is 'be clear, brief, and bold; don't be vague, tame, colorless, and irresolute (worse than wrong)'. Prefer the standard; admire the great; keep readers in mind; and let style come naturally not from memorizing the principles, but from the attitude of your mind. Hurray!