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The English language stretches around the world - from Australia to Zimbabwe, over 300 million people speak it as their mother tongue alone. And yet, despite its astonishingly widespread use as a medium of communication, every profession and every province - indeed, every individual person - uses a slightly different variant.In this guided tour, David Crystal describes the common structures that unify the language, and outlines the major variations that separate the English of Britain, America, Ireland, Australia, the Caribbean and other parts of the world. He explores the 'dialects' of chemists and the clergy, lawyers and truckers, poets and punsters, and offers a survey of how our language developed from Caedmon to computerese.

INDICE: The English language today - pidgins and creoles. Part 1 The structure of English: grammar - grammar and you; vocabulary - how large is your vocabulary?; pronunciation - received pronunciation; spelling - spelling reform. Part 2 The uses of English: language variety - trucker talk; English at play - sound symbolism; the effect of technology - texting; personal English - statistical laws. Part 3 The history of English: old English - casting the runes; middle English - the origins of modern standard English; early modern English - words then and now; English around the world - British and American English; E... Etc.