What Language Is by John Mcwhorter
A love letter to languages, celebrating their curiosities and smashing assumptions about correct grammarAn 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.
At Columbia University, John McWhorter teaches linguistics, Western civilisation, music history, and American studies. He is a CNN.com columnist, a regular contributor to the Atlantic, a frequent guest on CNN and MSNBC, and the host of Slate's language podcast, Lexicon Valley. He is also a New York Times best-selling author and TED speaker. The Power of Babel, Our Glorious Bastard Language, Words on the Move, Talking Back, Talking Black, and The Creole Debate are among his linguistic works.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781592407200 |
| ISBN 10 | 159240720X |
| Title | What Language Is |
| Author | John Mcwhorter |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Gotham Books |
| Year published | 2012-08-07 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |