How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Liveor Die

by David Crystal

Book Overview

Steven Pinker meets Bill Bryson in this landmark exploration of language. In the author's own words, "How Language Works is not about music, cookery, or sex. But it is about how we talk about music,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585678481
• ISBN13: 9781585678488
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 500 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

One more step towards clarity

We may all have an instinct for language but we can enjoy our use and perception of language far more with the help of such an astute observer and analyst as David Crystal. For anyone interested in using spoken-written language to convey meaning to other people, How Language Works, is well worth having read. I had to put forth more than ordinary effort to read this wonderful book, but I believe I have been well rewarded.

On what we say-in so many words.

The book was easy to read and relaxingly informative-I learnt a lot,David Crystal shows how linguistics and language should be discussed once again.

A Readable Reference Book

This book is arranged in chapters that can stand alone or be read as a volume. Chapters are divided into sub chapters which similarly stand alone or can be read as a cohesive work of prose. While the author is British, the emphasis is universal. The British influence shows the most in the discussion of dialects. The articles vary from being anecdotal to factually meaty. The chapters on vocabulary show how vocabulary is learned with great anecdotes and factual backup. Like Crystal, I think that this is a very much neglected area of language learning. I like that he uses interesting sentences and words for examples. Too often books on linguistics provide dull stilted examples.

great product

This was in perfect condition and arrived in time for Christmas. Thanks

How Language Works is highly recommended.

How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, And Languages Live Or Die by expert linguist David Crystal is a comprehensive guide written for lay readers and linguistic scholars alike to how language develops and evolves, both in individuals and in societies. In addition to chronicling how new languages are created from the mixing of cultures, and surveying the process of how languages die, How Language Works also makes an impassioned plea to protect and sustain as many languages as possible in a modern world beset with the threat of literally thousands of human languages on the verge of extinction. Championing languages as facets of intellectual and cultural diversity as well as miracles of science and nature, How Language Works is highly recommended.