Option #2

Hi Lucy Linguistics, I am very happy to hear that you will appreciate my opinion about this book. Well, “Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue” by John McWhorter is an amazing book. By reading it, we start some sort of exploration of language, in where we are constantly being amazed by very interesting fact about the history of language. Even though, McWhorter centers most of the book in the specific aspects that make English so different from its close relatives (Germanic-Languages), we can still acquire very precious knowledge about every language in general from this book. Besides talking about for example, the beginnings of English, starting whit the invasion of Germanic groups such as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes to Britain in the 5^th, followed by the invasion of the Danish and Norwegian Vikings, and at last of French conquerors, the book also explains how all these languages suffered some king of a mixing process. Then, even more interesting, is the fact that with time more and more little ingredients were added to this mix blending with it, forming what we know today as English (how I said before, this same process applies to every language around the world). I personally, found this knowledge very useful at a personal level, since it not only helped me in understanding the reason of why English is so complex, but also because now I can understand why are there so many languages around the world. I think that this book will be very useful for your class, because it will also give your students the opportunity to fully appreciate their language, especially those who only speak English, since it will allow them to understand the reasons of why English is how it is. It would be very important for your students to understand how English’s properties such as –ing ending and usefulness do, are properties that did not just appeared out of the nowhere, but that are instead, the result of the mutation that different languages suffer when they are closely spoken. They will be exposure to very rational theories, about the influence that Celtic languages such as Wesh and Cornish had on English. They will learn history, not only of language but of societies in general. They’ll learn that the Celtics were not totally disappeared from Britain with the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons, but rather, that they were actually important element of such society. They’ll learn, that things in language don’t “just happen”, as an example, McWhorter will use the do used in some Germanic-languages, but that it is only used “kind of” like in English, showing convincing theories and strong arguments to support his claims. In conclusion, this is a book that will give provide you and your students with beautiful knowledge about English, and every other language in general. It is also very important for me, to highlight the authors professionalism and respectable attitude when approaching counterarguments and disagreeing with them in a very respectful and admirable way.