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Library Journal Review
Crystal, an author, lecturer, and BBC broadcaster on language, here approaches English with the same combination of scholarly seriousness and inviting visual presentation that made his Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (LJ 5/1/88) so successful. This large, lively, and lavishly illustrated volume is divided into six broad topics that cover the English language's history, vocabulary, grammar, writing and speech systems, usage, and acquisition. Within these major topics, the book is divided into logical subtopics and finally into the basic unit of the text-the two-page spread. Nearly every individual subject is treated without turning a page, and how these pages are packed! The clear and spirited text is stunning, enhanced with over 500 illustrations, making this a particularly rich reference work and a browser's dream. The history part consists of chronological chapters that trace the language's development. It offers a fascinating treatment of the growth of English during Shakespeare's time as well as its adaptation to the needs of international trade and late 20th-century technology. Crystal is attuned to the diversity of English usage around the world, providing a variety of wide-ranging quotations, photographs, newspaper clippings, poems, ads, and cartoons. The text treats controversial topics such as black English, word and place origins, regional English, dialect, the U.S. movement to make English the official language, politically correct language, and the future. The book's layout, three indexes, and glossary will make it useful both at the reference desk and in the circulating collection. Crystal has created an attractive and readable work for the lay reader as well as the specialist. For most academic, public, and school libraries.-Paul D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., Me. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
CHOICE Review
The second edition of Crystal's authoritative overview of the English language is 16 pages longer than the first (CH, Nov'95) and has 44 original illustrations, a new chapter on English online, and updated statistics. Its 25 chapters are still divided into six parts covering the language's origins, vocabulary, grammar, spoken and written English, using English, and learning English. The two-page spread is this text's basic unit. Entries are helpfully illustrated with maps, photographs, and diagrams; a diagram showing an automobile's parts labeled in American and British English, for example, succinctly conveys differences between them. Coverage of world English and popular culture topics (e.g., Star Trek, advertising slogans) makes this source delightful to read, while indexes of linguistic items, authors and personalities, and topics enable quick look-ups of reference information. Appendixes include a glossary, key to symbols and abbreviations, and references. The bibliography cites sources published since the first edition, indicating significant updating. Crystal expands the basic treatments of English given in general sources, e.g., International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, ed. by W.J. Frawley (2nd ed., CH, Nov'03) or The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, ed. by R.E. Asher (10v., 1994- ). ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General and academic readers. K. Manuel New Mexico State University
Booklist Review
This attractive resource is organized thematically in segments covering the history of the English language (Old English, Middle English, Modern English, English in different parts of the world); English vocabulary (its nature, structure, sources, etymology, and the dimensions of the lexicon); English grammar (structure of words and sentences, definitions of the main branches of grammar); spoken and written English; English usage (varieties of discourse and regional, social, and personal usage variations); and how people learn English and new ways to study English. Appendixes include a glossary, a list of symbols and abbreviations, references and addresses, further readings, and indexes of names, items, and topics. Crystal, a linguist, is the compiler of many reference books published by Cambridge, for example, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (1987). Throughout the book (which focuses on British English, not American English), readers will find liberal use of color in the many charts, illustrations, reprints of pages from historically significant works, maps, and photographs. The author does not shrink from exploring and delivering opinions on controversial topics such as the "opaque inspecific, or empty" language of politics and the dangers of "political correctness." Each segment can be read as if it were the only section of the book, or, the work can be read cover to cover so that a cumulative effect is achieved. The only comparable resource that provides the same type of broad-ranging coverage in one volume is The Oxford Companion to the English Language [RBB O 15 92]. That work is arranged alphabetically within 22 themes (e.g., geography, history, media) and provides "an interim report on the nature and use of the English language" in all nations that speak English. The two works complement each other; Cambridge provides historical perspective and Oxford a snapshot of current English. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language lives up to the reputation of other resources published under the Cambridge imprint and will make an excellent addition to the collections of large public libraries and all academic libraries. (Reviewed July 1995)
