yay for books

The Historical Linguistics book is wonderfully fun and entertaining! I get back into the groove of middle english easily and could read most of the old english examples.... FUN.

Thanks J.!!! I'm enjoying it.

Comments

[J]

Isn't it neat? I had to resist blogging about it, for fear of ruining the surprise.

[badgerbag]

OMG it's so great! I'm geeking out! I can hardly put it down. And the exercises at the end of each chapter are the best textbook exercises ever, thoughtful and interesting like a good puzzlebook instead of condescendingly asking you to barf up the chapter contents. A great mind-expansion book!

[Prentiss Riddle]

Cool! I wonder how it agrees with John McWhorter's Power of Babel, a less hands-on and puzzle-oriented overview of language change written for a lay audience. Good stuff, too.

I always found Middle English deceptively easy (you think you know what's going on but you don't) and Old English deceptively impenetrable (it looks like Greek but then a friendly cognate comes along and gives you a reassuring hug).