McWhorter on Language Death

30 October 2009

John McWhorter contemplates whether language death is really all that bad a thing.

He very much reflects my opinion on the matter. While the loss of languages is a definite blow to linguistic research and understanding, socially its effects may actually be beneficial to the isolated speakers of the rare tongues that are dying. And besides, it is happening whether we like it or not and there seems to be very little we can do about it except record as much of the dying languages as we can before they are gone.

Video Friday: More on the HTOED

30 October 2009

OUP has put out a couple of videos of Ammon Shea, author of Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21730 Pages, commenting on the new Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. First up, Love, Pregnancy, and Venereal Disease:

And then, comments on how the thesaurus is organized and how one can encounter some rare treasures in its pages:

Hat tip to the OUP Blog.

(Disclosure: Oxford University Press is the publisher of my book, Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. Additionally, if you click through the links and make a purchase, I receive a very small referral payment from Amazon.com.)

New Reference: Historical Thesaurus of the OED

28 October 2009

Oxford University Press has just published the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. I haven’t seen it and this is not a review, but given OUP’s track record with such reference works, it would be surprising if it were anything but an invaluable reference. At $400, though, it’s not for everyone, but taking a gander at it the next time you’re in your local library will certainly be worthwhile.

The OUP Blog has some fun facts about the HTOED.

And OUP-US is running a contest in which a copy of the HTOED is one of the prizes.

(Disclosure: Oxford University Press is the publisher of my book, Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. Additionally, if you click through the links and make a purchase, I receive a very small referral payment from Amazon.com.)