Code: 04516389

English

Name: English
Brand: Oxford University Press Inc
SKU: 04516389
Price: 74.59 EUR
Availability: InStock

by Anna Wierzbicka

Language: English
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, 2006
More about this

74.59 €

In stock at our supplier
Shipping in 19 - 25 days

Add to wishlist

Interaction of Color
19.40 € -7 %
Buy
Atlas Shrugged
9.09 € -29 %
Buy
Penguin Readers Level 3: Animal Farm
7.77 €
Buy
Semantics, Culture, and Cognition
176.57 €
Buy
Stiefel Wandkarte Kleinformat Europa, physisch, ohne Metallstäbe
12.02 € -9 %
Buy
C# for Financial Markets
90.76 €
Buy
Guillotine
14.65 € -19 %
Buy

Give this book as a present today

Order book and choose Gift Order.
We will send you book gift voucher at once. You can give it out to anyone.
Book will be send to donee, nothing more to care about.

Book gift voucher sample Read more

You get 187 loyalty points

Book synopsis

It is widely accepted that English is the first truly global language and lingua franca. Its dominance has even led to its use and adaptation by local communities for their own purposes and needs. One might see English in this context as being simply a neutral, universal vehicle for the expression of local thoughts and ideas. In fact, English words and phrases have embedded in them a wealth of cultural baggage that is invisible to most native speakers. Anna Wierzbicka, a distinguished linguist known for her theories of semantics, has written the first book that connects the English language with what she terms "Anglo" culture. Wierzbicka points out that language and culture are not just interconnected, but inseparable. This is evident to non-speakers trying to learn puzzling English expressions. She uses original research to investigate the "universe of meaning" within the English language (both grammar and vocabulary) and places it in historical and geographical perspective. For example, she looks at the history of the terms "right" and "wrong" and how with the influence of the Reformation "right" came to mean "correct." She examines the ideas of "fairness" and "reasonableness" and shows that, far from being cultural universals, they are in fact unique creations of modern English. This engrossing and fascinating work of scholarship should appeal not only to linguists and others concerned with language and culture, but the large group of scholars studying English and English as a second language.