An at-times quite challenging but agile and lively introduction to language.
The beauty and intrigue of language.
Shariatmadari, a linguist and Guardian editor, is anxious to remove linguistics from its ivory-tower encampment and make it understandable for general readers. He cuts “through the fallacies and folklore that cloud our understanding” of this social science and provides some entertainment along the way. The author begins with the age-old myth that “language is going to the dogs.” On the contrary, language is “constantly evolving….It’s the speed of change, within our own short lives, that creates the illusion of decline.” A history of the word “toilet” helps Shariatmadari shatter the myth that the origin of a word, its etymology, is a guide to its true meaning. How a word sounds when spoken, the “very fount of our self-expression,” is largely unconscious. The shapes of our vowels and consonants, as well as accents, can change “whether you know it or not.” Can animals speak? Meet Alex, an African grey parrot that could respond to complicated questions and even create a metaphorical compound. He said “rock corn” to describe dried corn. Using a specially designed board of symbols, Kanzi, a bonobo, can respond to around 3,000 words. The author also delves into where dialects come from, how to decide where a language begins and ends, and African American Vernacular English. AAVE has been branded slang or ghetto language, but using it “to help students acquire standard English actually speeds up that process.” Are some languages better than others? Korean is held up by some as a “superior” language while German is a “time-honoured whipping boy.” Mandarin is “slow but dense, Spanish quick but light.” Shariatmadari enters into the fray over the noted linguist Noam Chomsky’s controversial belief that language is instinctual. He votes no. Inquiring minds curious about epenthesis backronyms and heteronymy will find answers here.
An at-times quite challenging but agile and lively introduction to language.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-324-00425-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
A solid and worthwhile biography. (24 b&w photos)
A well-researched biography of the famed children’s author, by Financial Times critic Wullschlager (Inventing Wonderland, 1995).
Born to a poor washerwoman and a young shoemaker in tiny Odense, Denmark, in 1805, Andersen was an effeminate, unattractive boy who left home at 14 to seek fame on the stage in Copenhagen. Unsuccessful as an actor, he managed to find a wealthy patron who provided for his education and helped launch his writing career. He made little mark as an author until 1835, when he turned to the fairy tales that would ultimately bring him fame. Drawing heavily on Andersen’s diaries and correspondence, Wullschlager paints a revealing portrait: an over-sensitive and essentially child-like man who was conflicted about his ambiguous sexuality and haunted by his humble origins. Especially interesting is Andersen’s complicated relationship with his primary audience; he wrote for adults and was annoyed that the public looked upon him as a children’s author. Andersen traveled widely, and the accounts of his visits are a source of some humor (and a fair amount of insight): he was once introduced to fellow children’s author Jakob Grimm (who had never heard of him), and was received as a London houseguest by Charles Dickens (who subsequently pinned up the note, “Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks—which seemed to the family AGES!”). A popular but lonely man, Andersen left his entire estate to a lifelong unrequited love, and among the hundreds who attended his funeral there was apparently not a single blood relative.
A solid and worthwhile biography. (24 b&w photos)Pub Date: May 3, 2001
ISBN: 0-679-45508-6
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Then again, as one popular saying goes, common sense is not common–perhaps that one should have been included here.
“Pertinent truths” meant to inspire writers in search of deeper meaning in their words.
In the political frenzy of an election year, the ability to captivate with a soundbite proves ever necessary. And while presidential candidates have speechwriters aplenty to help mesmerize the masses, the rest of us don’t have it so easy. And so a whole industry has been built upon the supposition that many of us often suffer from a crippling case of writer’s block when trying to wax poetic. Greeting cards that do the talking for us–“I love you,” “Hang in there, champ” or “You’re the best”–fill drugstore aisles. Paperbacks filled with Pablo Neruda poems fly off bookstore shelves around Valentine’s Day. And then there’s that niche filled with the Dr. Phil McGraws of the world, the inspirational genre formulating phrases to make our inner selves sing. Gordon considers himself in that league. Here, his “inspiring, witty and motivating words,” coupled with illustrations, are offered to help unclog that word-pumping artery, or better yet, soothe what ails you and make you think. It sounds a bit Chicken Soup for the Soul-ish, but it’s not exactly. There are words that do make you ponder: “Aim to be rich–poverty is more expensive,” for example. One can hardly argue with some of the revelations in these pages. “Read the signs carefully,” one of the sayings goes, tactfully partnered with a picture of a warning sign that reads: Primates (monkeys) are highly intelligent and are capable of inflicting serious injury when teased or harassed. Indeed, that is a sign worth reading. Mind-blowing, life-altering, thought-provoking even? No–most of this is a simple matter of common sense, something surely one’s grandmother often uttered when imparting good old-fashioned wisdom.
Then again, as one popular saying goes, common sense is not common–perhaps that one should have been included here.Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4257-5673-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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