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A review by miss_tricia
You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity by Robert Lane Greene
3.0
This book is dedicated largely to debunking some of the most common things we all "know" about language. For example, everyone is clear that English is in a state of terrible decline in the modern era. But nope, people have been saying that since there was a written record of English. English is constantly changing, and that continues to be true. All languages change, but change isn't the same thing as decline.
Another good one: if there isn't a word for something in your language, you can't think it. No, the way your language is structured inclines you to think in particular ways, but doesn't actually prevent you from thinking in other ways or about other things. (Example: In Indonesia, words for for self-reliance have negative connotations, but that doesn't mean Indonesians are incapable of understanding that in the US self-reliance is considered a positive trait.)
Greene also talks about "code switching," which is the fancy linguistics way of saying people use different dialects or languages for different situations. There are many people in the world who, for example, use one dialect at home and with friends and another dialect or language at the office. He works to clarify the Ebonics debate by describing the features of Black English that make it a distinct dialect, and then laying out the case for first teaching children to write in their home dialect and later teaching them to write in the standard language of academics and business, which is the model used in much of Europe.
There lots of fun facts and interesting tidbits scattered throughout the book. Greene's writing has a fairly straight-forward style with a bit of wit. If you have any interest in language or linguistics, I'd definitely recommend this book.
Another good one: if there isn't a word for something in your language, you can't think it. No, the way your language is structured inclines you to think in particular ways, but doesn't actually prevent you from thinking in other ways or about other things. (Example: In Indonesia, words for for self-reliance have negative connotations, but that doesn't mean Indonesians are incapable of understanding that in the US self-reliance is considered a positive trait.)
Greene also talks about "code switching," which is the fancy linguistics way of saying people use different dialects or languages for different situations. There are many people in the world who, for example, use one dialect at home and with friends and another dialect or language at the office. He works to clarify the Ebonics debate by describing the features of Black English that make it a distinct dialect, and then laying out the case for first teaching children to write in their home dialect and later teaching them to write in the standard language of academics and business, which is the model used in much of Europe.
There lots of fun facts and interesting tidbits scattered throughout the book. Greene's writing has a fairly straight-forward style with a bit of wit. If you have any interest in language or linguistics, I'd definitely recommend this book.