An exhilarating exploration of how the world's languages are likely to transform and be transformed by their speakersMark Abley, author of Spoken H...
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reviews
Jan 24, 2012
Olga
rated it: 
When we read, we do things impossible in our mundane existence, go places we can’t reach by public transportation. We fly among the stars, dance at Regency balls, or follow a canny detective in her search for a killer. We travel between the pages. With the guidance of Mark Abley, my reading journey into his book encompassed the past and the future and spanned across all the continents except Antarctica. I took a trip to the realm of English language.
According to Abley’s book, English More...
According to Abley’s book, English More...
Jun 02, 2011
Julian
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This book is something I would easily reread and highly recommend to anyone who enjoys etymology and the evolution of language. It is entirely about English but not just English. It is about how English is both the most widely spoken secondary language and changing into something very different from English. Abley attempts to answer the very interesting question of which language will replace English as the de facto language of the world with an equally interesting (but perhaps more complicated)
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Nov 22, 2009
Tracing the history of “gay,” Mark Abley says of a bit of Yeats (”They know Hamlet and Lear are gay” from “Lapis Lazuli”) that the line could “evoke an unwanted image of certain actors.” You know, that might be an unwonted take on the characters but it’s not an undesirable one. Well, maybe I’d rather picture Laurence Olivier as Hamlet than as Lear.
In The Basque History of the World, Mark Kurlansky attributes “honcho” to Basque; Abley says it’s Japanese. I think Kurlansky is wrong. More...
In The Basque History of the World, Mark Kurlansky attributes “honcho” to Basque; Abley says it’s Japanese. I think Kurlansky is wrong. More...
Oct 20, 2009
Betty
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The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English by Mark Abley
Well-written and surprisingly up to date, this Canadian author has introduced how the dictionary is an ongoing work, never to be finished, as the English language appears to take handsprings of changes at any given mini-decade to produce new words and change those of the past. He smoothly takes us through the many adaptations of English as determined by countries around the world.
I found the historic More...
Well-written and surprisingly up to date, this Canadian author has introduced how the dictionary is an ongoing work, never to be finished, as the English language appears to take handsprings of changes at any given mini-decade to produce new words and change those of the past. He smoothly takes us through the many adaptations of English as determined by countries around the world.
I found the historic More...
Aug 15, 2008
Emily
rated it: 
Wow, what a disappointment. I really enjoyed Abley's earlier book, *Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages*, and found *The Prodigal Tongue* so jaded in tone and stuck-at-surface-level in research that I now wonder if *Spoken Here* had the same issues and I was simply unaware, as the languages and cultures were mostly unfamiliar to me. The material in *The Prodigal Tongue* was so familiar (shallow explorations of text message abbreviations, Singlish, Spanglish, etc) that I learned nothi
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Sep 11, 2009
Sara
rated it: 
This is a hard one to rate. Quite slow in the beginning, the book contains a lot of interesting information and ideas about language. It reinforces the pertinent theme of our increasing intolerance for lack of connectivity and our addiction to information and mulitasking. His comments about current modes of reading (i.e., skimming) struck a chord with me, as did the topic of corporate nounspeak. The idea makes me want to change how I converse at work.
Feb 11, 2012
Arja
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In this lively, very readable book Abley takes a look at a number of possible futures for English – will it split off into a variety of dialects as happened with Latin and the Romance languages? Will the influence of technology and tech talk render the language all but unrecognisable in a few decades? Abley crosses the globe in pursuit of answers.
Sep 29, 2010
Jouni
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More than an actual book about the changes in (the English) language, The Prodigal Tongue is a collection of humourous, and, admittedly, entertaining linguistic anecdotes.
As for the actual informational value of the book, the author states in the introduction that language is in constant change; then he gives examples of said changes; then, in the conclusion, he concludes that language is changing. In other words, the book just plods on without any actual progression conclusions or sci More...
As for the actual informational value of the book, the author states in the introduction that language is in constant change; then he gives examples of said changes; then, in the conclusion, he concludes that language is changing. In other words, the book just plods on without any actual progression conclusions or sci More...
Nov 04, 2008
Hippopottoman
rated it:
An interesting book – I like the discussions of the changes English has undergone and is undergoing and the way it’s affecting other languages. (And all the pop culture references I’m familiar with were fun.)
I especially enjoyed the section on Japan(ese), as I’ve recently returned from there and had been wondering about all the English-derived words that existed, “Really, they had no word for ‘milk’? Or ‘green’?”).
Unfortunately, I didn’t find that the book was formed in such a way as More...
I especially enjoyed the section on Japan(ese), as I’ve recently returned from there and had been wondering about all the English-derived words that existed, “Really, they had no word for ‘milk’? Or ‘green’?”).
Unfortunately, I didn’t find that the book was formed in such a way as More...
Sep 25, 2011
Rick
rated it:
Abley handles his subject ably, and often with sharp insight. He examines the interaction between English and other languages on a variety of frontiers -- the way Japanese has absorbed English words and used them to replace some traditional Japanese terms; the emergence in Singapore of "Singlish" as English, Malay, and Chinese form a new linguistic blend; and the pressure of technology, especially IT and Internet communications, on the vocabulary and shape of English. Sometimes he seem
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Oct 26, 2009
Gabrielle
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Okay so I skipped a few chapters, but overall this book is interesting to read, if you want to learn more about language or the way English is used and misused and morphed around the world you will like it.
Dec 16, 2009
Mary
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An interesting look at the current state of the English language -- luckily it's not judgmental, nor does it poo-poo non-standard English. A decent read.
Oct 12, 2008
Logan
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An interesting and informative, though not necessarily new, look at how the English language is being changed by technology and culture, and also the changes English is bringing to other languages around the world. Abley's findings are often frustrating, and sometimes heartbreaking, for language geeks—but change is a fact of life for any thriving language.
Anyway, this was a fun little adventure into English. I especially liked the chapter on English in Japan and the chapter on Englis More...
Anyway, this was a fun little adventure into English. I especially liked the chapter on English in Japan and the chapter on Englis More...
Jun 20, 2011
Elizabeth
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This was decent, a descriptivist overview of realms where English is evolving by the minute, nicely grouped into thematic chapters (Asia, the internet, science fiction). It's REMARKABLE how his examples of current slang, current in 2008 when the book was published, already sound so clunky. I think it would be good for people who miss William Safire, although Abley isn't as acerbic.
Dec 27, 2010
Ilya
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After writing Spoken Here, Mark Abley got a Guggenheim Fellowship that enabled him to go around the world in search of the future of English. He goes to a Los Angeles shop that sells T-shirts that say "CHINGA TU MADRE" and underneath it in a smaller font "HAVE A NICE DAY", and "TU ERES UN PENDEJO" above "YOU ARE MY FRIEND". Hip-hop and its associated African American Vernacular English vocabulary spread from Senegal (where a popular rapper raps in English-
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