The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language - Hardcover

'A delight and a treasure ... David Crystal does a brilliant job of satisfying our curiosity about our mother tongue while illuminating the deepest questions of who we are and where we come from. A magnificent achievement.' Steven Pinker, Harvard

'David Crystal is phenomenal ... This is a prodigious achievement ... The book contains breadth of range, imaginative insight, and deep understanding ... It is pervasively readable and stimulating.' Lord Quirk

'... a superb work that manages to be both scholarly and vastly entertaining ... This is a deeply impressive book, for it packs between two covers virtually everything any normal person might care to know about English.' The Washington Post Book World

'... bedazzles ... with an eye-popping presentation of ... the mother tongue.' The New York Times

'... scholarly and entertaining ... the range, scholarly value, interest, attractiveness and (often) humour of the tables, graphics, illustrations, photographs, colour plates, maps, and quoted material is quite stunning. rarely has serious information been presented so colourfully, so strikingly. A splendid work, essential in all libraries and destined to live a long and useful life.' Reference Reviews

'I have been unable to think of a question this book cannot answer ... I will risk predicting that Professor Crystal will not be superseded much before the message sent into space on Voyager I ... receives an answer.' The Times Literary Supplement

'... it gives ... the whole history and grammar, all the theory and practice of English with precision, panache and wit.' The Observer

'... without a doubt one of the most beautiful and enlightening volumes I have handled in some years.' Western Australia Sunday Times

'... an outstanding work ... The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language will surely remain the definite text in the field for some time to come.' fun-with-words.com

'...the most diverting, delightful, imaginative and altogether entertaining compilation ever assembled about spoken and written English.' Parade Magazine

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language is one of the publishing phenomena of recent times. Rarely has a book so packed with accurate and well researched factual information been so widely read and popularly acclaimed. It has played a key role in the spread of general interest in language matters, generating further publications and broadcasting events for an avid audience. Its First Edition appeared in hardback in 1995 and a revised paperback in 1997. There have been numerous subsequent updated reprintings; but this second edition now presents an overhaul of the subject for a new generation of language-lovers and of teachers, students and professional English-users concerned with their own linguistic legacy. The length of the book has been extended and there are 44 new illustrations, extensive new material on world English and Internet English, and a complete updating of statistics, further reading suggestions and other references.