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And What It Isn?t and What It Could Be
Gotham
August 2011
On Sale: August 4, 2011
240 pages
ISBN: 1592406254
EAN: 9781592406258
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
New York Times bestselling author and renowned linguist,
John McWhorter, explores the complicated and fascinating
world of languages. From Standard English to Black English;
obscure tongues only spoken by a few thousand people in the
world to the big ones like Mandarin - What Language Is
celebrates the history and curiosities of languages around
the world and smashes our 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, 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 Surinam
creoles alike) originate, evolve, multiply, and divide.
Raising provocative questions about what qualifies as a
language (so-called slang does have structured grammar),
McWhorter also takes readers on a marvelous journey through
time and place-from Persian to the languages of Sri Lanka-
to deliver a feast of facts about the wonders of human
linguistic expression.
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