What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be

In my opinion, Dr. John McWhorter is one of the best, if not the best, linguists around in terms of teaching and writing ability. He is a professor of linguistics and Western Civilization at Columbia, he teaches several courses in the “Great Courses” series, he is a contributing editor at “The New Republic”, he has an on-line blog, he appears widely in the media, and he has authored over a dozen books, including “What Language Is”, “Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue”, “Words on the Move”, and “The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language”. Aside from linguistics, his second major interest deals with race in America, and he is widely called upon to offer his (usually unorthodox) views on this subject. He has a lot to say about African-American Vernacular English, or Ebonics. He is also a singer and a pianist, and he is very interested in, and conversant with popular culture. I have learned more from this man than from anyone else I can think of. His particular area of expertise in linguistics is pidgin/creole languages, a subject on which he has produced many scholarly works (which I find incomprehensible) but which are published in linguistic professional journals for other linguists. But this specialization does not prevent him from offering up any number of different aspects of linguistics in a manner that is perfectly clear and readily understandable. He also has a sense of humor (which is not to everyone’s taste) and often offers quips and asides. In this book he offers "a provocative look at how languages originate, divide, and work".

A fun, engaging tour of the world's languages, the book manages to make serious arguments about language whilst remaining a quick and entertaining read. The text is full of interesting examples from both well known and much more obscure languages, but this adds up to a lot more than just a cabinet of linguistic curiosities; the author uses the examples to argue that many of the claims made about the relative 'worth' of languages ('written languages are more sophisticated than oral ones', '"big" languages like English are richer than "small" languages spoken by isolated groups') simply aren't supported by the evidence.

I love everything John McWhorter writes. He writes at the perfect level for non linguists who want to know about languages and I I recommend his books to my students all the time.

It's John McWhorter. If you're familiar with his other books, enough said. A bit more detailed in some spots than some of his other works, but still infused with his light touch and his humor.

There needs to be a caveat for anyone reading John McWhorter's latest book. This is not the only book you should ever read on language (and McWhorter would agree), but for people who love language per se, the book is really a treat.The book is, quite accurately described as a romp through dozens of languages to prove a few well chosen points about language in general. Dr. McWhorter is a creolist by training, and so the focus of his interest is most often on the processes of language change, answering questions like: How did that language develop in that odd way, whereas the language over the hill developed in a different odd way. And odd, serendipitous development is the rule rather than the exception in almost every case--the highly regular, controlled languages being the exception. William Safire and other prescriptivist Miss Grundys of the world would roll over in their graves at much of what he says, but he is right: language will do what it will do, and there is no force on earth that can stop it from changing and evolving.There is one big, big insight in the book that no one should miss, and that is that languages that are largely learned in isolation as first speech varieties by children will preserve more irregularity than languages that are learned in contact situations by adults, who just don't have the fantastic skills of autonomic acquisition. These "adult learned" languages sluff off irregularities, eliminate messy stuff, reduce complex sound systems and generally simplify, simplify, simplify. But once the new language gets established and babies start to learn it, it is off and running again, developing more complexity.All that said, there is a wonkish caveat: Dr. McWhorter writes very fast, and very fluidly. His prose sounds just like him talking, making it seem almost as if he were dictating the book. This is unlikely given the excruciatingly produced examples in multiple phonetic fonts. However, nit-pickers will definitely find errors in the examples, and some things to carp about in his broad sweep of language functions.That said, no one should deprive themselves of the fun of reading this book. It is a hoot and a half, and if one is a linguist or knows many of the languages in question, it will be a guilty pleasure to read it and laugh. I'm giving it to my freshmen. Maybe it will inspire them to stop thinking of linguistics as some kind of dry-as-dust formalist exercise.A tip: The passages on the use of "ass" as a pseudo-pronoun in Black English Vernacular (Ebonics) is worth the price of the book.

There are quite a few insights and new things about languages in general - which is interesting to a language junkie like myself, even after I've read many books on the topic.The language of the book itself is very rich and sophisticated, sprinkled with nice humor. But it is a tough read at times; in some places too technical and detailed, in some maybe too repetitive. Well, this is what you have to put up with, being a language junkie. :-)

Good.

I love McWhorter's conversational writing style. He has a great gift for explaining things in ways that will make sense to the layperson. Understanding the various languages he examines helps us understand our own language better.

Easy to read for someone who don't know much about language.

This book is written in a very verbal style, which makes it easy to read, despite being about a complex topic: languages. I learned a lot about how languages adapt for various reasons (immigration and the fact that it's harder for adults to pick up new languages are two examples) and that adaptations of language are not wrong, just different. It's a great read for anyone with any interest in language. (I've been following the prescriptivist/descriptivist debate for a while now.)

Item as described, No problems. Would buy from this vendor again.