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katiescho741's review against another edition
4.0
This book busts the myths that surround lanaguage, and it's great fun for any language nerd to read. Not every chapter held my attention as there are some sections that get very technical, but the ones about the social aspect of language were excellent. He doesn't give the readers all the answers, but this is a great introduction to the ideas and arguments.
This is a well-researched look at both the intricate ins-and-outs of language, as well as the more social and general ideas about the topic. I enjoyed the section about the memes that pop up about "untranslatable words" or "this language has X number of words for this", and how we should be skeptical about stuff like this.
I also liked that he wasn't afraid to put a few "fucks" in the book!
This is a well-researched look at both the intricate ins-and-outs of language, as well as the more social and general ideas about the topic. I enjoyed the section about the memes that pop up about "untranslatable words" or "this language has X number of words for this", and how we should be skeptical about stuff like this.
I also liked that he wasn't afraid to put a few "fucks" in the book!
sunnydreads's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
I was really excited to read this book because I studied linguistics in college. It was fun to get a new perspective on things I’d really only heard about through textbooks and lengthy, jargon-filled articles. There was a moment or two in this book where it got a little too complicated in terms of explanations and jargon even for me, but I definitely loved diving into this one. Might be a challenge for some people who haven’t studied linguistics before but I’d still recommend giving it a try!
pumpkinsoup1162's review against another edition
3.0
Nerds unite! Interesting. Boring. Both of those things together. Didn’t hate it. Would take a certain word nerd friend for me to recommend it.
eldritchreader's review against another edition
I love learning about the science behind language so I jumped on this book when I got the opportunity. And while I still found what was being said interesting, this book is just way too jargon-y for me to stay engaged.
Thank you to Libro.FM and the publisher for providing me a DLC in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you to Libro.FM and the publisher for providing me a DLC in exchange for an honest review!
bioniclib's review against another edition
4.0
The latest proof that language is not, as the Baby Boomers and maybe even some Gen-Xers think, going to a very warm place in a portable basket. English is alive. Live things change and grow. This book gets into some heavier science than the last few linguistics books I've read. He comes back to Noam Chomsky multiple times when discussion how language is acquired.
Though mostly disproved, Chomsky's concept of a Universal Grammar the Merge principle is intriguing enough that I went out and found the book that started it all, 1957's Syntactic Structures. I'm sure it'll be a slog but his is a name that repeated comes up in my reading on words and linguistics and philology (oh my!). So methought it time to read something by him.
There are some really profound bits and bobs peppered throughout. Here are some of my favorites. I read the Kindle version and so there are no page numbers in my highlights. I'll include the percentage marker in the stead. One last note, even in my readings on words and language, I cannot escape reading about racism. Because words have power and are used as a way to oppress.
The idea that we all once spoke in the same way is found across cultures. The ancient Greeks thought that there was perfect linguistic unity under Zeus. But then his son Hermes taught humans their many languages, and they began to fight. The Aztecs believed that only one man and one woman survived a great flood in a hollowed-out tree. They had children, who were all dumb, until a dove came down and taught each one to speak differently. (1%)
In Arabic you have to pick out the root consonants and look the word up under that entry. Istaktaba doesn’t come under “i” but under “k." (4%)
Racial epithets like the N-word are subject to more powerful taboos because they indicate an entire belief system seen as unacceptable.†† Even these are dependent on context, however: a black person is free to use the N-word, which conveys a completely different meaning in his mouth/ (14%)
On the other hand, language and intelligence are so strongly linked in our imaginations (“dumb” is used to mean both mute and stupid) that sometimes we forget they aren’t necessarily the same thing. (31%)
Consonants are important because they’re very easy to tell apart from one another, and can be combined with vowels in lots of different ways. The rate of vibration of the larynx can also achieve changes in pitch, which can be fed into meaning as “tone.” All of this enables the Taa language of Botswana, for example, to have more than eighty consonants, twenty vowels and two tones. (32)
There is evidence from Sweden, the US, and other countries that speakers of other varieties can be aided in their learning of the standard variety by pedagogical approaches which recognize the legitimacy of the other varieties of a language. From this perspective, the Oakland School Board’s decision to recognize the vernacular of African American students in teaching them Standard English is linguistically and pedagogically sound. (52%)
According to German researchers, the melody of newborn babies’ cries is shaped by the sounds of their native language, which they must have heard through their mother’s bellies. (70%)
Though mostly disproved, Chomsky's concept of a Universal Grammar the Merge principle is intriguing enough that I went out and found the book that started it all, 1957's Syntactic Structures. I'm sure it'll be a slog but his is a name that repeated comes up in my reading on words and linguistics and philology (oh my!). So methought it time to read something by him.
There are some really profound bits and bobs peppered throughout. Here are some of my favorites. I read the Kindle version and so there are no page numbers in my highlights. I'll include the percentage marker in the stead. One last note, even in my readings on words and language, I cannot escape reading about racism. Because words have power and are used as a way to oppress.
The idea that we all once spoke in the same way is found across cultures. The ancient Greeks thought that there was perfect linguistic unity under Zeus. But then his son Hermes taught humans their many languages, and they began to fight. The Aztecs believed that only one man and one woman survived a great flood in a hollowed-out tree. They had children, who were all dumb, until a dove came down and taught each one to speak differently. (1%)
In Arabic you have to pick out the root consonants and look the word up under that entry. Istaktaba doesn’t come under “i” but under “k." (4%)
Racial epithets like the N-word are subject to more powerful taboos because they indicate an entire belief system seen as unacceptable.†† Even these are dependent on context, however: a black person is free to use the N-word, which conveys a completely different meaning in his mouth/ (14%)
On the other hand, language and intelligence are so strongly linked in our imaginations (“dumb” is used to mean both mute and stupid) that sometimes we forget they aren’t necessarily the same thing. (31%)
Consonants are important because they’re very easy to tell apart from one another, and can be combined with vowels in lots of different ways. The rate of vibration of the larynx can also achieve changes in pitch, which can be fed into meaning as “tone.” All of this enables the Taa language of Botswana, for example, to have more than eighty consonants, twenty vowels and two tones. (32)
There is evidence from Sweden, the US, and other countries that speakers of other varieties can be aided in their learning of the standard variety by pedagogical approaches which recognize the legitimacy of the other varieties of a language. From this perspective, the Oakland School Board’s decision to recognize the vernacular of African American students in teaching them Standard English is linguistically and pedagogically sound. (52%)
According to German researchers, the melody of newborn babies’ cries is shaped by the sounds of their native language, which they must have heard through their mother’s bellies. (70%)
gcb's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
Woah so interesting!! My enjoyment certainly depended on chapter but overall a solid read! Linguistics will forever be fascinating to me and it’s so interdisciplinary that it really applies to anything! Super cool.
yeahnaar's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A really interesting look at language and linguistics. The book is full of thought provoking and intriguing information and is written in a way that should be accessible for all readers. I would highly recommend it if you want to learn more about language and how/why we use it and why it is the way it is