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Dear Rick, "The Story of English" was extremely well done, and I assume the facts were pretty accurate, but the thesis it promoted was, in my view, very problematic. The only section I could really evaluate was on Scots (and to some extent Gaelic), and I found it infuriating in its assumptions about the wonderful way English supplanted them. It simply did not happen that way nor was its priviliging welcomed. I saw it too long ago to be specific, but I do think it was an exercise in presumption and self congratulation that dismissed other cultures. I am remembering my distressed reaction rather than specific examples. Nancy Date sent: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 07:15:47 -0500 Send reply to: [log in to unmask] From: "Rickard Parker" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Dans le Restaurant and the Commedia > > Italian students > > of Dante do not have much trouble with the language or grammar > > although there are problems with some terms > Thanks, Rick, that's really interesting. Did he say why English has changed > more than Italian? Or maybe it just isn't known why. No he didn't. It was a short conversion just before getting on the boat to visit the Dry Salvages (as I recall.) There are many reasons why but I would not do them justice. A number of years back PBS did a TV series called "The Story of English" that was fascinating. They had a compagnon book also. PBS has a Adult Leaning Series using the videos and it should be possible to find tapes in libraries. The following is a synopsis of the nine videos of the PBS series The Story of English. http://homepage.mac.com/branscombcourses/HEL/story.html PBS ALS - Guide to Courses - The Story of English (bookmark because the course is being redone and the page is worthless until then.) http://www.pbs.org/als/guide/courselistings/courses/story_english/ Book info at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140154051/qid=985003885/sr=1-1/ref =s c_b_2/107-5730034-7606159 Regards, Rick Parker