Status
Available
Publication
The Overlook Press (2006), Edition: 1, 512 pages
Description
"This book is not about music, cookery, or sex. But it is about how we talk about music, cookery, and sex--or, indeed, anything at all." Language is so fundamental to everyday life that we take it for granted. But as linguist Crystal makes clear, language is an extremely powerful tool that defines the human species. Crystal offers general readers a personal tour of the intricate workings of language. He moves effortlessly from big subjects like the origins of languages, how children learn to speak, and how conversation works to subtle but revealing points such as how email differs from both speech and writing in important ways, how language reveals a person's social status, and how we decide whether a word is rude or polite. Broad and deep, but with a light and witty touch, this is a layman's guide to how we communicate with one another.--From publisher description.… (more)
Media reviews
What Mr. Crystal, widely regarded as a leading authority on linguistics, has done is to assume the role of a master distiller of knowledge who takes the whole subject of language and pours it into 73 clearly labeled bottles all beginning with the word “How” — as in, “How we use tone of
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voice,” “How children learn to mean,” “How conversation works.” Show Less
The book is the perfect one-volume introduction to the study of language. In 73 chapters Crystal covers everything from "How we transmit sounds" to "How conversation works"; the book also includes excellent diagrams of the inner ear and the vocal organs.
User reviews
LibraryThing member lorax
Disappointing. Far too superficial and too focused on issues that aren't really linguistic in nature (how written language differs from spoken). Several chapters toward the end are devoted toward capsule descriptions of language families -- potentially interesting, but they didn't actually say much
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of anything ABOUT the languages in question, instead limiting themselves to number of speakers, geography, and related languages. There was basically nothing about the structure of other languages; it seemed very English-focused to me. I was skimming by the time I was halfway through, in sharp contrast to Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct which I've read more than once and found absolutely fascinating. Show Less
LibraryThing member paulcurrion
An excellent overview of the subject - thorough, well-structured and occasionally amusing. Don't expect a great read for the airplane, since it's put together so that each section can be read independently of the others, but it's a very useful reference book.
LibraryThing member peterannis
A very comprehensive overview of language in all its forms. From babies first words to the internet, spoken, gestured, written, and electronic to list a few. It is a complex subject covered in a way thats is neither boring or confusing.
LibraryThing member Jewsbury
Language has many roles. One of them can be to reveal the nature of language, to show “how language works” (the book’s title). This book explores this metalinguistic topic in 500 easy to read pages. As such, the book is remarkably informative with great breadth. No doubt, every reader is
Language is our birthright, an essential part of our humanity. Yet specific languages are potentially dangerous, more powerful than national cultures and identity. However, we cannot clearly define any one language. There are no standards to draw the line between languages or between dialects. Thus we guess there are perhaps 6000 human languages – some thriving, some endangered, all equally modern.
But what else should I pick upon? Ending sentences with prepositions? Starting sentences with a conjunctive? I should say the author is not another pop-linguist. He seeks to inform not to entertain or pontificate. For instance, he explains why a monograph ought not to be a monologue. He ably shows that an author can engage a reader in a feigned dialogue with appropriate cues to upcoming contents and required mode of thinking.
The explanations are beautiful spun, and easily accessed. Hence the book is well worth reading.
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likely to be interested in something different. Language is our birthright, an essential part of our humanity. Yet specific languages are potentially dangerous, more powerful than national cultures and identity. However, we cannot clearly define any one language. There are no standards to draw the line between languages or between dialects. Thus we guess there are perhaps 6000 human languages – some thriving, some endangered, all equally modern.
But what else should I pick upon? Ending sentences with prepositions? Starting sentences with a conjunctive? I should say the author is not another pop-linguist. He seeks to inform not to entertain or pontificate. For instance, he explains why a monograph ought not to be a monologue. He ably shows that an author can engage a reader in a feigned dialogue with appropriate cues to upcoming contents and required mode of thinking.
The explanations are beautiful spun, and easily accessed. Hence the book is well worth reading.
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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
If you don't know much about linguistics, this is a good place to start. It could also be useful for learning about areas of linguistics you have never entered before. If you have already read a number of books about language/linguistics you will be bored.
LibraryThing member fpagan
Not that much on the technical intricacies of linguistics per se. Thorough and interesting in its breadth (and length -- 73 chapters) but not in its depth.
LibraryThing member mbmackay
An overview of the study of language. Sounds interesting - promising all sorts of insights and snippets, but ends up reading like an extended index (Crystal is a noted indexer!) and manages to make an interesting topic boring. Read May 2009.
LibraryThing member TedWitham
I'venot yet read from cover to cover, but serious dippings have revealed a comprehensive, readable and useful book.
LibraryThing member SashaM
At times interesting and educational other times snore worthy. Was expecting it to be a bit more like the last book of David Crystal's that I read (Spell it out) which was much more layperson friendly and ( to me at least) consistently interesting. Still worth reading but most people (myself
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included) will need to break it up a bit to get through. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English