The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English

One might say that the English language is like a weed...it roots itself and takes over. "The Prodigal Tongue", Mark Abley's terrific new book, investigates where English stands today, through a multi-cultured and societal approach. It's a revealing portrait. Abley looks at the spread of English around the globe...Singapore, Japan, etc., and includes the Americas where black and Latino influences loom large. It's not so much language diversity that the author seems intrigued by, but the fractured nature of it. He mentions a fact that often Quebec films have French subtitles (Swiss audiences have long had German subtitles, too) which might suggest that not long in the future this may be a standard feature in America, given the changing nature of English in our own backyard. Perhaps the most dynamic section of "The Prodigal Tongue" has to do with cybertalk. There is certainly a generational split as the typed word has taken on its own meaning, far from the understanding of most of us, who happen to be around the author's age, as am I. This is a highly recommended book, especially for Abley's breadth of inquiry and suppositions of how new words and phrases will continue to propagate.