In 1986, there were two versions of “The Story of English” – a television series, and a book. I never got to see much of the television series, since it’s almost impossible to get on VHS, let alone DVD. I had the opportunity to check out a few episodes from my local library, before that library got rid of these VHS tapes (why, I don’t know). Specifically, I watched the first three episodes, two of which are considered to be the best of them. But I was able to read the bestselling book, the version that I’ll be reviewing here in this blog post. It is a fine book, which I recommend to others interested in either linguistics or English – or history, for that matter.
John Milton, author of “Paradise Lost”
This series is primarily focused on what scholars would call “Modern English” …
First of all, this book is primarily focused on what scholars would call “Modern English.” This is the English of the last 500 years or so. Ironically, this includes the English of William Shakespeare, whose words sound very archaic to us today. Specifically, Shakespeare is considered to be “Early Modern English.” But the English language is actually much older than that, going back to what scholars call “Old English.” Specifically, the English of Beowulf is almost like a foreign language to us. Indeed, contemporary English speakers would have to learn “Old English” in the same way that they’d have to learn German or Dutch. This is how hard it is to learn the English of Beowulf, even for native English speakers today. But before the fifth century AD, a separate “English language” did not even exist yet. It hadn’t yet split off from the other parts of the “Germanic” language family. The separation occurred around the time that three Germanic groups invaded the British Isles. They were the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. The words “Angle” and “Saxon” were later combined together into the compound word “Anglo-Saxon.” But “Angles” is also the root word of “Anglo,” “England,” and the word “English” itself. Thus, the name of the language comes from this influential group, as does the language itself.
The first page of Beowulf
… and gives only minimal coverage of things before that
Both this book and its associated television series would later find competition from Melvyn Bragg’s “The Adventure of English.” This competition would come in the form of both a book and a television series, much like “The Story of English” itself. (For more about “The Adventure of English” television series, see this page.) Personally, I believe that “The Adventure of English” was much better at covering both Old English and Middle English. They get an entire episode each in “The Adventure of English.” But “The Story of English” is much better at covering the still-earlier roots of the English language. Specifically, “The Story of English” not only covers the language’s Germanic origins, but even the earlier Indo-European origins. Unfortunately, their coverage of the Indo-European origins is still rather brief, getting only a fraction of a chapter. But this is more time than Melvyn Bragg spent on it. His television series only briefly mentioned it, when discussing how scholars discovered a link between the European languages and the languages of India. This was well into his television series, in one of the later episodes – since this connection wasn’t discovered until much later in the history itself. If you’re interested in the connections among the Indo-European languages, I have another blog post more focused on that subject. (Here if you’re interested.) Suffice it to say here that “The Story of English” does actually mention these connections, even if only briefly. That’s because the Indo-European origins are the earliest-known roots of the English language. Thus, “The Story of English” is wise to begin their story at this point.
Geoffrey Chaucer
However, they give good coverage of “Early Modern English” (including Shakespeare)
Again, this book skips over most of Old English and Middle English. Unfortunately, these periods get just a fraction of a chapter each in this book. But they spend more time on Early Modern English, including the language of Shakespeare. One of the best television episodes of “The Story of English” was called “A Muse of Fire.” It covered this extremely-influential period in the history of English literature. This episode corresponds to one of the best chapters of this book. They briefly mention how English first arrived in the Americas during this period, thus foreshadowing their own coverage of Canadian and American English – especially American English. But the focus of this chapter is on England, the birthplace of “English.” Only later would the English language be spread to the rest of the British Isles – not to mention distant shores.
William Shakespeare
Why did they focus so exclusively on “Modern English”? (My own guesses)
Why would this book focus so exclusively on “Modern English”? I have my own guesses in this matter. I suppose that they wanted to cover the different varieties of English – from Scottish and Irish English, to Australian and Indian English. They wanted to talk about how all of these separate dialects came to exist in the first place. To do that, you would have to focus on the last 500 years or so of the language’s history – or in other words, on what scholars call “Modern English.” This, I think, is why they focus so much on the last 500 years or so. They wanted to give something like “equal time” to all of the major varieties of the English language. This is only a guess, of course, and I have no way of knowing this for certain. But to me, this seems as likely as any explanation, given the way that this book is organized. They’re very interested in the diversity of English idiom, and want to do justice to all of these dialects. This may be an impossible task for a book as accessible as theirs, which actually succeeded in finding a mass audience and becoming a bestseller. But they certainly accomplish a lot, given the digestible length of their analysis.
Jane Austen, who had more influence on the English language than any other woman ever
The diversity of international dialects of English today …
African American English is one prominent variety of “Black English,” but there are also many others. For example, the British had colonies in several parts of the Caribbean, including Jamaica. They also had colonies back in Africa, including Nigeria. Thus, English was spoken in all of these places. The book’s chapter entitled “Black on White” surveys this remarkable diversity. They also show the influence of “Black English” on other dialects, including (and most prominently) American English. Still other chapters examine still other dialects – such as those found in Asia, or those found in the Pacific. The most prominent Asian dialect of English may be that of India. The Indian subcontinent has more than a billion people, with more than three times the population of the United States. A good portion of this population speaks English as their native language. Thus, English is sometimes ironically considered to be “just another Indian language.” Other languages still dominate India today, but the English language still has a strong presence there despite this fact.
Rudyard Kipling
… including the effect of England’s Cockney dialect on certain other countries
They also talk about England’s Cockney dialect, spoken in some parts of London. One reason for this is that it influenced several other varieties of English, spoken in some of Britain’s former colonies. Most importantly, Cockney influenced Australian English, New Zealand English, and some South African English. Native-English-speaking is in the minority in South Africa today, but what you find there is surprisingly similar to what you find in Australia, New Zealand, or London Cockney. It was helpful to hear the perspective of British author Robert McCrum on these kinds of issues, and on the other varieties of English more generally. Canadian journalist Robert MacNeil was the one who presented the corresponding television series, while William Cran was the one who directed this television series. But most of the book was actually written by Robert McCrum, as this book itself says – although Robert MacNeil and William Cran were both given co-author credit on the book’s front cover.
Distribution of the English language
This book is lively, entertaining, and interesting (not to mention readable)
This book is more accessible than your average scholarly treatment of the subject. It is lively, entertaining, and interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if its primary author were an English major, since this book is written in such a readable way. They also talk much about the influential literary works of each dialect, which is another reason that it seems to be written by literary types. Even if English literature was not their focus, they certainly have a remarkable command of the language’s literary traditions and history. They make it interesting even for people like me, who are not blessed with an aptitude for literature. Although I respect the literary disciplines, I freely admit that I’m not cut out for them. It was my interest in linguistics that brought me to this book – particularly historical linguistics, of the kind that they discuss here. In this, I was not disappointed, and learned much about the history of the English language from this book. But this may also satisfy people who are more literary, and who want to hear more about the history of the literature involved.
Conclusion: This book is a good fit for anyone interested in either linguistics or English
Thus, this book seems a good fit for anyone interested in either linguistics or English – or history, for that matter. There are good reasons that this book was a bestseller, and found such a wide audience. It can be appreciated even by people who are not scholars of the subject – and who, like me, made it through their English classes by the skin of their teeth.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of a series about
Modern languages
A review of Robert McCrum’s “The Story of English”
Note: These posts do not have to be read in any particular order. Since time periods overlap, there isn’t much chronological order to observe here.
See also this series about
My own experiences
Note: These posts do not have to be read in any particular order. Since time periods overlap, there isn’t much chronological order to observe here.
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