The Mother Tongue is a 1990 book by Bill Bryson which compiles the history and origins of the English language and its various quirks.[1] It is subtitled English And How It Got That Way. The book discusses the Indo-European origins of English, the growing status of English as a global language, the complex etymology of English words, the dialects of English, spelling reform, prescriptive grammar, and other topics including swearing. This account popularises the subject and makes it accessible to the lay reader, but it has been criticised for some inaccuracies, such as the perpetuation of several urban myths.[2]
This book has also been published in the UK by Penguin Books under the title Mother Tongue: The English Language.
Bryson has since followed up this work with Made in America.
^"The Mother Tongue". Kirkus. 17 July 1990.
^"The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson". www.publishersweekly.com. 2 September 1991. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
native tongue, or mothertongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term...
TheMotherTongue is a 1990 book by Bill Bryson which compiles the history and origins of the English language and its various quirks. It is subtitled...
speakers). The General Notes from the 2001 census define "mothertongue" as "the language spoken in childhood by the person's mother to the person. If the mother...
for their mothertongue. Since then, Bangladeshis celebrate the International Mother Language Day as one of their tragic days. They visit the Shaheed Minar...
Saint George's sword, mother-in-law's tongue, and viper's bowstring hemp, among other names. Until 2017, it was known under the synonym Sansevieria trifasciata...
taught subject-matter curriculum with English as the medium of instruction, while the official mothertongue of each student - Mandarin Chinese for Chinese...
prominently in the Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not themothertongue of virtually...
Sacred MotherTongue was a four-piece British heavy metal band from Northampton initially formed in 2004. The line up consisted of Darrin South (vocals)...
speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mothertongue; but many read...
facto as the main language in Singapore, and is officially the main language of instruction in all school subjects except for MotherTongue lessons in...
Thetongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive process, and...
Insee and based on a sample of 15,350 people, French was themothertongue of 87.2% of the total population, or roughly 55.81 million people, followed...
to Wilno Voivodeship was published. The population was categorized by mothertongue i.e. the primary language in the following categories: Polish, Ukrainian...
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MotherTongue Society (Estonian: Emakeele Selts) is an Estonian organization that focuses on topics related to the Estonian language. The organization...
language of instruction for nearly all subjects except the official MotherTongue languages and the literatures of those languages; these are generally not...
recognized regional languages in the Philippines as ordered by the Department of Education (Philippines) under theMotherTongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education...
meaning. Themothertongue is again used in the oral manipulation of grammatical structures, i.e. in bilingual pattern drills. The architecture of the bilingual...
of themothertongue movement, Taiwan has emerged as a significant cultural hub for Hokkien in the world in the 21st century. It also plans to be the major...
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"first-language-first" education, that is, schooling which begins in themothertongue, or first language, and transitions to additional languages. Typically...
parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is themothertongue of 45–60% of the total population...
MotherTongue Publishing is a small independent Canadian publishing company located on the West Coast of British Columbia. MotherTongue publishes bold...
distinguishing between language and mothertongue. Themothertongues are grouped within each language. Many of themothertongues so defined could be considered...
grade 3, students are taught using their mothertongue, except for Filipino and English subjects; themothertongue is also a separate subject for grades...
Mende, which is spoken by 31% of the population as a mothertongue and is also widely spoken in the southern, and most of the Eastern part of Sierra Leone...
with the permission of the Speaker of the relevant House, address the House in their mothertongue. In contrast, the constitution requires the authoritative...