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

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

<b>A love letter to languages, celebrating their curiosities and smashing assumptions about correct grammar<br><br></b>An eye-opening tour for all language lovers, <i>What Language Is </i>offers a fascinating new perspective on the way humans communicate. from vanishing languages spoken by a few hundred people to major tongues like Chinese, and with copious revelations about the hodgepodge nature of English, John McWhorter shows readers how to see and hear languages as a linguist does.<p></p>Packed with big ideas about language alongside wonderful trivia, <i>What Language Is </i>explains how languages across the globe (the Queen's English and Suriname creoles alike) originate, evolve, multiply, and divide. Raising provocative questions about what qualifies as a language (so-called slang does have structured grammar), McWhorter takes readers on a marvelous journey through time and place—from Persia to the languages of Sri Lanka—to deliver a feast of facts about the wonders of human linguistic expression.