Discover the beauty of the English language with a book of Etymology, or brush up on your Latin with a classical dictionary. The Folio Society presents a wide selection of books on language, from histories of linguistics to reference titles. All Folio books include beautiful illustrations, diagrams and photographs, and come in unique hardback covers. See below for the full list of Folio language books.
Ever since Chaucer's day, when the host of the Tabard Inn in Southwark rose to welcome the Canterbury Pilgrims with a joke, the After Dinner Speech, designed, if possible, to reduce the assembled company to helpless merriment, has presented the ultimate challenge.
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Ambrose 'Bitter' Bierce was immortalised by The Devil's Dictionary. His series of satirical definitions and irreverent aphorisms first appeared from 1881 to 1886 in the columns of a provincial newspaper, impaling the sacred cows of civilised life - and much else besides - upon the spikes of his own mordant wit.
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From Beowulf to The Book of Common Prayer, from the Great Vowel Shift to the worldwide web, it has been a long road, full of unexpected diversions, which continues to snake into the horizon. No guide could map the journey of the English language in a more entertaining style than Robert Burchfield.
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Where does language come from? How does it evolve? Why is a 3-year-old child a grammatical genius? These are some of the questions to which Steven Pinker turns his dazzling insight and expertise.
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