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What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be Paperback - 2012
by John McWhorter
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"New York Times"-bestselling author and renowned linguist McWhorter explores the complicated world of languages. He celebrates the history and curiosities of languages around the world and smashes assumptions about "correct" grammar.
Summary
A love letter to languages, celebrating their curiosities and smashing assumptions about correct grammar
An eye-opening tour for all language lovers, What Language Is offers a fascinating new perspective on the way humans communicate. from vanishing languages spoken by a few hundred people to major tongues like Chinese, and with copious revelations about the hodgepodge nature of English, John McWhorter shows readers how to see and hear languages as a linguist does.Packed with big ideas about language alongside wonderful trivia, What Language Is explains how languages across the globe (the Queen's English and Suriname creoles alike) originate, evolve, multiply, and divide. Raising provocative questions about what qualifies as a language (so-called slang does have structured grammar), McWhorter takes readers on a marvelous journey through time and place—from Persia to the languages of Sri Lanka—to deliver a feast of facts about the wonders of human linguistic expression.
An eye-opening tour for all language lovers, What Language Is offers a fascinating new perspective on the way humans communicate. from vanishing languages spoken by a few hundred people to major tongues like Chinese, and with copious revelations about the hodgepodge nature of English, John McWhorter shows readers how to see and hear languages as a linguist does.Packed with big ideas about language alongside wonderful trivia, What Language Is explains how languages across the globe (the Queen's English and Suriname creoles alike) originate, evolve, multiply, and divide. Raising provocative questions about what qualifies as a language (so-called slang does have structured grammar), McWhorter takes readers on a marvelous journey through time and place—from Persia to the languages of Sri Lanka—to deliver a feast of facts about the wonders of human linguistic expression.
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Details
- Title What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be
- Author John McWhorter
- Binding Paperback
- Pages 240
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Avery Publishing Group
- Publication date 2012-08-07
- Features Bibliography, Index, Maps, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
- ISBN 9781592407200 / 159240720X
- Weight 0.4 lbs (0.18 kg)
- Dimensions 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 in (20.07 x 13.21 x 1.78 cm)
- Age range 18 to UP years
- Grade levels 13 - UP
- Category Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy
- Library of Congress subjects Language and languages - Etymology, Historical linguistics
- Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2011010208
- Dewey Decimal Code 400
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