Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Dialect Notes, Vol. 2: Publication of the American Dialect Society
The real value, however, of such a collection of college words and phrases as the present is not that it is to add much, if at all, to the number of words or expressions in the permanent vocab ulary of the language not that it is to be permanent in itself, for many words and usages now common among students will probably disappear entirely in a few years, to be replaced by others of no less transitory life not that such a collection repre sents essentially new principles of word-formation. It is rather that the word-list exhibits the vocabulary of a living dialect, belonging to communities fairly distinct from the rest of the world and largely affected by similar in?uences. On this account it illustrates, as nothing else can do, the natural in?uences operat ing upon language and the natural effects to be expected, in?u ences and effects which cannot be arrived at by a priori reason ing or with certainty from merely literary tradition. Besides, from seeing language as it actually exists, as it lives and grows, it is possible to make right inferences regarding language in the past, and to determine the probability or improbability of much that now rests wholly or largely upon conjecture. Such an investigation of language as it really exists is thus in line with the whole theory of modern linguistic study, and with that actual and minute examination of existing facts and tendencies by which the greatest advances in linguistic science have been made in this century.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
