Summary: Taught by acclaimed linguist, author, and Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University, Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths of Language Usage dispels the cloud of confusion that clings to English, giving you a crystal-clear view of why we use it the way we do and where it fits into the diverse languages of the world. After completing these 24 lectures, you will think about how you use English in a...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Teaching Company 2012
Copies Available at Kingsley
2 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 420.9 McWCall number: DVD 420.9 McW
Dickson, Paul.
Summary: "William Shakespeare's written vocabulary consisted of 17,245 words, including hundreds that were coined or popularized by him. Some of the words never went further than their appearance in his plays, but others--like bedazzled, hurry, critical, and anchovy--are essential parts of our standard vocabulary today. Many other famous and lesser-known writers have contributed to the popular lexicon....
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: St Martins Pr 2014
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 801.3 DICEverett, Caleb
Summary: "A guide to how languages around the world differ from one another far more than we realize and point to fundamental differences in how people conceive of everything from time to color to smell"--
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Harvard University Press 2023
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 306.44 EVERichards, Mary Agnes
Summary: "A History of Words for Children explores the uniquely human ability to share thoughts using words. Written in a lively narrative style, this book presents a history of the world through language, introducing young readers to the civilizations, inventions, and writers who have shaped the way we communicate. Divided into themed chapters to help young minds grasp difficult concepts, the book...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Thames & Hudson Inc. 2022
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Juvenile Nonfiction, Call number: J 417.7 RICSummary: An animated documentary on the life of controversial MIT professor, philosopher, linguist, anti-war activist and political firebrand Noam Chomsky. Through complex, lively conversations with Chomsky and brilliant illustrations by Gondry himself, the film reveals the life and work of the father of modern linguistics while also exploring his theories on the emergence of language.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: MPI Media Group 2014
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC ISMoore, Christopher J.
Summary: " The quintessential A to Z guide to British English-perfect for every egghead and bluestocking looking to conquer the language barrier Oscar Wilde once said the Brits have "everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language." Any visitor to Old Blighty can sympathize with Mr. Wilde. After all, even fluent English speakers can be at sixes and sevens when told to pick up...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Gotham 2014
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 427 MOOShea, Ammon
Summary: "The author of Reading the OED presents an eye-opening look at language "mistakes" and how they came to be accepted as correct-or not. English is a glorious mess of a language, cobbled together from a wide variety of sources and syntaxes, and changing over time with popular usage. Many of the words and usages we embrace as standard and correct today were at first considered slang, impolite, or...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: 2014
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 428 SHEMcWhorter, John H.
Summary: "With more than 6,000 languages spoken around the world, it's no wonder that linguistics, the study of language, has a reputation for being complex and inaccessible. But here's a secret: There's a lot that's quirky and intriguing about how human language works--and much of it is downright fun to learn about. Every day, linguists ponder and try to solve some of the most intriguing scientific,...
Format: sound recording-nonmusical
Publisher / Publication Date: 2013
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Compact Disc Audio Book, Call number: CD 410 MCWSummary: Presents lectures (each 30 minutes in length) by John McWhorter, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, based on his courses in Linguistics.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Teaching Co. 2008
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 410 UNDSanders, Ella Frances.
Summary: "An artistic collection of 50 drawings featuring unique, funny, and poignant foreign words that have no direct translation into English. Did you know that the Japanese have a word to express the way sunlight filters through the leaves of trees? Or that there's a Swedish word to describe the reflection of the moon across the water? The nuanced beauty of language is even more interesting and...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Ten Speed Press 2014
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 410 SANSummary: This course introduces the student to the history of the English language, from its origins as a dialect of the Germanic-speaking peoples, through the literary and cultural documents of its 1500 year span, to the state of American speech of the present day.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Teaching Co. 2008
Copies Available at Woodmere
2 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 420.9 HISCall number: DVD 420.9 HIS
Deutscher, Guy
Summary: A masterpiece of linguistics scholarship, at once erudite and entertaining, confronts the thorny question of how--and whether--culture shapes language and language, culture.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Metropolitan Books / Henry Holt and Co. 2010
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 410 DEULerer, Seth
Summary: Presents lectures on the history of the English language.
Format: sound recording-nonmusical
Publisher / Publication Date: Teaching Co. 1998
Copies Available at Woodmere
2 available in Compact Disc Audio Book, Call number: CD 420 LER PART ICall number: CD 420 LER PART III
Getty, Stuart
Summary: "Ever wonder what "nonbinary" or "gender nonconforming" really means? Why would someone choose to identify that way? And how the heck do you use "they/them" pronouns for a singular person - isn't it supposed to be plural? This charming and disarming guide promises to unpack all these questions and more, with a fun, visual infographic approach"--
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Sasquatch Books 2020
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 425 GETCopies Available at Kingsley
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 425 GETSummary: Writing is a relative latecomer to the history of language. This program tracks its emergence in Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica and its spread down through the millennia via conquest-usually violent, sometimes benign-and colonization. The creation of creoles and pidgins resulting from the interaction of specific populations is also addressed, and speculation is made about the first things...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program, Robert MacNeil heads to California to take part in meaningful dialogues on Spanglish, Chicano, Ebonics, and "Surfer Dude" before going to Seattle to consider the implications of voice-activation technology. Linguist Carmen Fought, Stanford University's Cliff Nass, screenwriters Amy Heckerling and Winnie Holtzman, and others speak their minds about Spanish in America, why teens...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Cultivating an appreciation of the English classics requires studying the mother tongue as it was originally spoken. In this program, Dr. Joseph Gallagher brings language to life by reciting examples of Old, Middle, and Early Modern English in their original dialects. In addition, he discusses the evolution of English syntax and morphology. A dramatization of a portion of Beowulf is also...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Will standard English, as it was known in the 20th century, disappear? Will English continue as the global tongue, or will its numerous varieties become, as offshoots of Latin did, a host of mutually unintelligible languages? This classic PBS program features new varieties of English that have transcended British and American influence. The program focuses on some of the most successful...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Scottish tongue is one of the oldest in Britain, a Northern variety of English that, but for the accidents of history, might have become a separate language. This classic PBS program deals with the influence of the Scots in spreading the language of their historic enemies-the Sassenachs of the South-around the world. The program begins in the 15th century, the golden age of the Scottish...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: A dramatized, in-depth look at how FBI profiler Jim Fitzgerald pioneered the use of forensic linguistics to help track down Ted Kaczynski, the man who came to be known as the "Unabomber." Agent Fitzgerald faced an uphill battle against both Kaczynski and the bureaucracy of the UNABOM task force in the course of his efforts to identify, capture, and convict Kaczynski of his serial bombings.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Lionsgate 2017
Copies Available at Peninsula
1 available in Television Series DVDs, Call number: DVD MANSummary: The making of English is the story of three great invasions and a cultural revolution. This classic PBS program shows how an early form of English was carried to Britain by invading Anglo-Saxons, how that language was all but obliterated by waves of Viking settlers, and how it was reshaped by the French-speaking Normans. The fact that English survived on the lips of people who left no written...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program follows English through the 18th and 19th centuries, from attempts at reforming and standardizing the tongue in the Age of Reason to the soaring verse of Romanticism and the verbal prudishness of the Victorian era. Linguistic milestones are highlighted by original editions of critical texts, including Newton's Opticks, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, Thomas...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The world is a mosaic of visions, and each vision is encapsulated by a language. Yet every two weeks, one of the world's approximately 6,500 languages dies out. What is the significance of this loss to those who speak the language as well as for the rest of humankind? Why do some languages become global while others disappear? And how are language and identity connected? In this program,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Fallon, Jimmy
Summary: "A lot of babies' first words were Dada. However, everything after that was Mama. Readers take a look from a baby's point of view as different animals try to teach their children that there are other words in addition to Mama for familiar objects and activities."--Publisher's description.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Feiwel and Friends 2019