Read more
Questions about Language sets out to answer, in a readily available format, questions which journalists and members of the public ask linguists all the time. Covering frequently asked questions about language, this is essential reading for both students new to language and linguistics and the interested general reader.
List of contents
List of illustrations
About the contributors
Introduction
1. Do animals communicate using a language?
2. Is talking work doing work?
3. What makes a language a language?
4. Do people swear because they don’t know enough words?
5. Is written grammar better than spoken grammar?
6. Is language change good or bad?
7. Are the sounds of languages influenced by climate, environment and biology?
8. Can you tell someone’s sexuality from the way they speak?
9. Is learning a signed language easier than learning a spoken language?
10. Can you forget your native language?
11. Can people really disguise themselves when writing or speaking?
12. What is universal about intonation?
Index
About the author
Laurie Bauer FRSNZ is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is the author of over twenty books including The Oxford Reference Guide to English Morphology (2013), which won the LSA’s Leonard Bloomfield Prize. In 2017 he was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Humanities Medal.
Andreea S. Calude is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. She has a background in mathematics and linguistics and researches (spoken) grammar, language evolution, loanwords and just about any quantitative language-related question she can get data on. She has authored the TED ED Lesson “Does Grammar Matter?”.
Summary
Questions about Language sets out to answer, in a readily available format, questions which journalists and members of the public ask linguists all the time. Covering frequently asked questions about language, this is essential reading for both students new to language and linguistics and the interested general reader.
Additional text
Suitable for expert and non-expert readers alike, this book offers accessible, thought-provoking and up-to-date discussions of a range of language-related topics. Engaging with a variety of questions from across the field of linguistics, the expert authors challenge commonly-held assumptions, prompting the reader to reflect on their own language attitudes and practices.
Kate Scott, Kingston University, UK
