Did the Celts "bastardize" English?

Sep 28, 2010 by

Linguist and author John McWhorter thinks so. In his book Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, he presents an “untold story of English”, the story of its being shaped by people who spoke a Celtic language. This is a new story,...

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English is changing: for better or for worse?

Aug 18, 2010 by

Two things are certain — and I am not talking of death and taxes. In language the two certainties are that language is constantly changing and… that we keep complaining about it. And English is no exception to this rule....

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Great Vowel Shift — part 3

Aug 3, 2010 by

To conclude this series of postings on the Great Vowel Shift let’s look at the possible causes of this wholesale upheaval in the vowel system of English. The question of why the Great Vowel Shift happened can be broken down...

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