The Language Report

Library Journal

Dent, a British editor and translator, here attempts the impossible-to offer in a very small book a snapshot of the whitewater that is contemporary English. Tracking the newest words picked up by OUP's continuous language-monitoring program (the largest in the world), she focuses on how speakers and writers of English, in trying to communicate the fast-shifting realities of the 21st century, generate new words and put older ones to fresh uses. Dent presents 25 important topics about the language changes today in short, factual chapters, most concluding with a list of illustrative words or phrases. These chapters treat sources of new terminology that stem from food, fashion, politics, TV, sports, computers, advertising, timely quotations, the various "flavors" of English (e.g., British, American, Canadian, Indian), and more. She also analyzes how the events of 9/11 "made the existing terminology for war and terrorism obsolete." But Dent doesn't stop there; she even discusses changing behavior patterns in English grammar and usage, such as the condensed usage necessitated by chat rooms and text messaging and the ubiquitous use of "fillers" such as innit and like or the established practice of "uptalking" (i.e., ending every statement with an invisible question mark and rising voice). The book is definitely British-focused, but there is more than enough here to interest any English-language buff. The lack of bibliographic apparatus, however, limits the book's reference use. A good, albeit optional, purchase for English language collections.-Paul D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., ME Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.