ebook img

The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language PDF

2023·7.2 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download

Download The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language PDF Free - Full Version

by Ilan Stavans| 2023| 7.2| English

About The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language

A riveting, one-of-a-kind anthology of the diversity, strangeness, and power of American English, featuring a tremendous array of essays, letters, poems, songs, speeches, stories, jeremiads, manifestos, and decrees across history, from Sojourner Truth and Abraham Lincoln to Henry Roth and Zora Neale Hurston, from George Carlin and James Baldwin to Richard Rodriguez and Amy Tan, from Tony Kushner and Toni Morrison to Louise Erdrich and Donald Trump.This volume is a people’s history of English in the United States, told by those who have transformed it: activists, teachers, immigrants, journalists, poets, dictionary makers, actors, musicians, playwrights, preachers, presidents, rappers, translators, singers, children’s authors, scientists, politicians, foreigners, students, homemakers, lexicographers, scholars, newspaper columnists, senators, novelists, and a slew of fanatics. It begins with the English used by the settlers in Plymouth Colony and concludes (for now) with John McWhorter’s tribute to punctuation that bends the rules. The quest is to understand how an imperial language like English, with Germanic origins, whose spread resulted from the Norman conquest, came to be an intrinsic component of the most influential democratic experiment in the world. Edited by internationally renowned cultural commentator and consultant for the OED Ilan Stavans, it is organized chronologically and offers a banquet of letters, poems, essays, dictionary entries, stories, songs, legislative documents, and other evidence of verbal mutation. Immigrants have propelled these transformations. Hybrid dialects like Yinglish, Spanglish, and Hawaiian pidgin have flowered. Our linguistic and cultural multiplicity has sparked fierce national debates that play out in these pages–from the compulsory education (and deracination) of Native Americans, to the classification of Black Vernacular English (once celebrated and ridiculed as Ebonics), to the dictionary wars over prescriptive versus descriptive usage, to the push for “English only” mandates that persist to this day. What is clear is that as much as we try to corral it, American English gallops ahead to its own destiny. Driven by American innovators, English has become the global language of both business and entertainment–the medium of the laws that bind us, the art that inspires us, and the connections we forge across cultures. A compendium that is as rich and diverse as the country itself, The People’s Tongue helps us grapple with how English has become the world’s lingua franca.

Detailed Information

Author:Ilan Stavans
Publication Year:2023
ISBN:9781632062659
Language:English
File Size:7.2
Format:PDF
Price:FREE
Download Free PDF

Safe & Secure Download - No registration required

Why Choose PDFdrive for Your Free The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language Download?

  • 100% Free: No hidden fees or subscriptions required for one book every day.
  • No Registration: Immediate access is available without creating accounts for one book every day.
  • Safe and Secure: Clean downloads without malware or viruses
  • Multiple Formats: PDF, MOBI, Mpub,... optimized for all devices
  • Educational Resource: Supporting knowledge sharing and learning

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it really free to download The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language PDF?

Yes, on https://PDFdrive.to you can download The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language by Ilan Stavans completely free. We don't require any payment, subscription, or registration to access this PDF file. For 3 books every day.

How can I read The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language on my mobile device?

After downloading The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language PDF, you can open it with any PDF reader app on your phone or tablet. We recommend using Adobe Acrobat Reader, Apple Books, or Google Play Books for the best reading experience.

Is this the full version of The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language?

Yes, this is the complete PDF version of The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language by Ilan Stavans. You will be able to read the entire content as in the printed version without missing any pages.

Is it legal to download The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language PDF for free?

https://PDFdrive.to provides links to free educational resources available online. We do not store any files on our servers. Please be aware of copyright laws in your country before downloading.

The materials shared are intended for research, educational, and personal use in accordance with fair use principles.