The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way

Author Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1951. He holds dual American and British citizenship but has lived in England for most of his adult life. Bryson first visited England in 1973 but moved back to the United States to complete his education at Drake University in 1975. He moved back to England in 1977, where he began his career writing books, primarily on the subjects of travel and language. In 1990, Bryson’s work The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way was published by William Morrow and Company in the United States. While Bryson lacks formal, academic linguistic training, his expertise on the subject is considered self-taught and he has been awarded 11 honorary doctoral degrees. The book was generally well received but has become controversial for some factual errors.

The Celts were the early inhabitants of Britain bound together by the common Celtic language and other cultural similarities. Under Roman rule in Britain, the Celts had become “civilized, law-abiding people” who enjoyed many aspects of civilization (44-45). Bryson notes that after living side-by-side for four centuries, the Celts and Romans became almost indistinguishable (45). However, after the withdrawal of Roman troops in 410, the Celts came under attack by invading Germanic tribes and were either slaughtered, forced to flee, or absorbed into Germanic identity.