Blending the spirit of Eats, Shoots & Leaves with the science of The Language Instinct, an original inquiry into the developm...
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Dec 11, 2011
Nathan
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I admit it, I love language. Despite this, I've been astonishingly slow to pick up the overall history and shape of language. I've picked bits of the history of English (Celts, Germans, French, vowel shift) but never the overall picture of how languages change. I didn't even realize that, beyond "we are lazy buggers and mangle words", that it had been codified.
Boy, was I wrong!
As I read this book, I kept pausing to relate bits of what I'd learned to my kids. The More...
Boy, was I wrong!
As I read this book, I kept pausing to relate bits of what I'd learned to my kids. The More...
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Sep 30, 2009
Jan
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By far the best tour of linguistics for the layman, as pertaining to the development of language. Many books which delve into this meaty topic provide a lot of cute examples of etymology, without a really coherent exposition of the processes that have shaped the structure of language, and how linguists uncovered them.
Professor Deutscher does a lively job of bringing the general reader's attention to the tendencies that have shaped the development of language -- erosion, emphasis, and me More...
Professor Deutscher does a lively job of bringing the general reader's attention to the tendencies that have shaped the development of language -- erosion, emphasis, and me More...
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Jul 06, 2009
Jacqui
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Dr. Deutscher has done a scholarly, thorough discussion on the roots of language, but I believe he started too late in time. I'm of the persuasion that language involves more than the spoken word. I find body language (which proponents argue communicate half of what we speak), facial expressions (think FACS, FBI, microexpressions), movement to be as telling of a person's intentions as words. Sometimes more so. Yet, he argues language was born when we could prove it was born--"...for how can
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Jul 17, 2010
Karen
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This was a delightful and fascinating book. It's very readable and entertaining and I don't think that I will ever look at language quite the same way again. I wished, quite early on in the book, that I had read it(or had it to read) twenty years ago when I was teaching English in Japan. It made a lot of issues and problems that my students were facing much clearer to me, and if nothing else I wish I'd been able to explain to my students WHY English spelling is so screwy.
The autho More...
The autho More...
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Nov 05, 2011
Tresy
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A fantastic, funny, and insightful book drawing on a vast amount of material to answer the seemingly unanswerable question? How does language come to be and what makes it change? Not as overtly partisan as Steven Pinker (an innatist) , Deuatcher opens up more avenues for exploration, and his wit is just as sparkling.
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Nov 20, 2011
Derek
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This brilliant book uncovers the forces that shape modern languages. Their evolution is a negotiation between economy and expressiveness. For example, laziness, especially in prononciation, causes erosion and elision; the craving for order reinforces even accidental patterns; the desire to heighten expressiveness is achieved through the insertion of extra words; and the desire to extend the reach of language is achieved through the use of metapphor from concrete domains to abstract ones.
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Sep 07, 2010
Ovidiu
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The book is an overview of how language developed and how it changes through the ages. It is easy to read even for someone who has never read any linguistics books. The author is very playful with his subject. The vocabulary is very down-to-earth because all the complexities of linguistics are broken down into pieces of information that one can easily relate to because of everyday experience with language, while the reader is still informed about the major theories and the theoreticians of lingu
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Feb 28, 2010
From my review:
Deutscher’s book is so good because he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty (from his armchair) and really delve into language. He takes on the forming and ridding of case-endings (why build such a complicated system and then let it all slip away? What was the point?), the templates of Semitic languages (written without vowels), the economy of sound and language (dropping the “g” on a word that ends in “ing” and also going from the Greek pesk to our English word, fish More...
Deutscher’s book is so good because he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty (from his armchair) and really delve into language. He takes on the forming and ridding of case-endings (why build such a complicated system and then let it all slip away? What was the point?), the templates of Semitic languages (written without vowels), the economy of sound and language (dropping the “g” on a word that ends in “ing” and also going from the Greek pesk to our English word, fish More...
Apr 07, 2010
Libby
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I've been reading a lot of books about language recently. This particular volume is a fascinating treatment of a lot of my basic questions such as: how did language start,how does it change, and why, who really decides what is correct grammar and syntax, and how does language affect the way we view the world? Is there something innate in our brains that leads us to language? After all, babies do it! Guy Deutscher addresses these and other language questions with humor and vitality. He demonstrat
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Jun 08, 2009
Simon
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A couple of days ago I finished reading 'The Unfolding of Language : An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention' by Guy Deutscher. Wow, it's exhausting just to say the name, imagine what it felt like to read the book. But, seriously the work is intellectually challenging and often provoked me to engage in thoughts on the ever changing state of human language. And yes, metaphors are the erodent of language (in case you were wondering). Many times I found myself reminiscing about the com
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Nov 30, 2009
Mark
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This is the best best best book on language change. As I reported in my blog, it freed me from the tyranny of a dead language. Deutscher shows us the formation and destruction of linguistic structures is a relentless and ongoing process, not dissimilar to other natural systems. Once you have read this marvelous and witty book you will feel empowered to coin new words and phrases and ignore silly and pointless grammatical rules (but not valid and useful ones).
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Mar 02, 2011
Eve
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Due mainly to the nature of the material, this book took more effort to read than The Unfolding of Language. Deutscher is very good at making complicated topics accessible, but that doesn't mean they stop being complicated. (Sometimes he seems to be trying too hard to make things accessible, spending pages "demonstrating" things that his readers couldn't possibly not know, like the fact that different languages have different sentence structures or that languages change over time. But
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Nov 21, 2007
Tracey
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Not quite as coherent as I might have wished (language is a messy topic, I guess!) but Deutcher provides a wide range of examples of how language has & continues to evolve. Using the oldest known versions of language & running through the current day, he focuses on the cycle of simplification & aggregation, not only in grammar, but in pronunciation as well.
He does assume some prior knowledge of linguistics (and is a bit Brit-centric at times, using "snog" as a sample verb) More...
He does assume some prior knowledge of linguistics (and is a bit Brit-centric at times, using "snog" as a sample verb) More...
Jan 09, 2011
Sean
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Relatively enjoyable read about the gradual changes in languages over the past few thousand years. Deutscher makes a point of showing how seemingly disparate idiosyncrasies within and among languages are often systematically based, and that the ever present cries about the decline of language are unfounded, for it is that much-maligned erosion that helps create the wonderful complex beauty of language. The book can be somewhat technical in parts, but never so much to lose a non-linguist reader.
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Aug 06, 2009
Deb
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So far, this is the general book on the history of language that I like the most. I haven't read every chapter, but it seems consistent, has great examples, and even the details on Semitic languages make sense to me. I decided not to use it in my freshman seminar (I'm going for Bryson's Mother Tongue instead, because a book focused on English will be more accessible for them) but I would love to use this one in a higher level course some day, maybe a seminar on language and evolution.
Jul 17, 2007
Octo
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Wow. This book is really good and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in linguistics. It sets forth a theory of language evolution (from prehistoric grunt to modern day slang) that uses concrete examples to show how changes and developments come about. What's more is that the authors connects ancient changes in language to current observable trends and shows the reader how the same forces that, say, created modern English are working to change modern English today. Wow.
The More...
The More...
Dec 30, 2008
Shannon
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I didn't know I cared about linguistics until I read this book. The plain and simple synopsis is that it gets into the nitty-gritty about where languages developed and why, with emphasis on certain language families more than others. But if you're into comparisons of how closely related German and English are or need to know the answer to the burning question of how Hindi and French could have possibly come from the same ancient language, you'll probably like this.
Aug 18, 2011
Purnima
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This is one amazing and fascinating book on the evolution of language. I was expecting the book to be little sophisticated and hard to follow for a layman like me. But the author has made it lively and engaging all through, that I read most of it in one sitting. Recommend to anybody interested in language and its nuances.
Sep 05, 2010
David
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This book is excellent. It strikes the right balance between accessibility and scholarly content. Linguists used to say that any discussion of the origins or early development of language was futile and an invitation to quackery. Apparently progress has been made. If Akkadian root structure and left-handed languages toot your horn, get this book.
Dec 17, 2009
Jim
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Spectacular look at how language developed and dispersed around the world. Dissolves the Tower of Babel myth and shows how language evolved and is still evolving. The destruction by parsing and construction by descriptiveness are central. Shows how different languages are related down to word roots.
Aug 22, 2008
John
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This is a really interesting book about the evolution of language. It starts with the assumption that a very simple language exists (Deutscher calls it "Me Tarzan") and details the mechanisms by which it may have changed over tens of thousands of years to the modern languages we speak. Along the way, he addresses the major concerns of linguists over the last couple of centuries - notably the idea that languages seem to be de-evolving from a complex and sophisticated original. I won't s
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Oct 12, 2011
Finlay
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The drivers for the incredible complexity of language boil down to: desire for more expressiveness, economy of energy, and analogy. Oh, and if you don’t like modern changes, remember that every generation has lamented the death of the language, and held the previous 100 years as the pinnacle. Ok, c u l8r.
May 17, 2010
Aaron
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If you enjoyed Steven Pinker's 'The Language Instinct', you should definitely read this. This book takes less of a speculative stance on how much language is innate - it's more conservative and is careful to point out the limits of what we can know.
What we do get is a grand job of explaining the nuts and bolts of how languages and complicated grammars evolve, with all their weird rules and exceptions.
Interesting that the main forces driving change are laziness (people wan More...
What we do get is a grand job of explaining the nuts and bolts of how languages and complicated grammars evolve, with all their weird rules and exceptions.
Interesting that the main forces driving change are laziness (people wan More...
Dec 25, 2007
Kim
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Wow, I loved this book. I often wonder about where language came from. How could such a complex system evolve? It surely didn't just apparate out of thin air. So then how did it happen?
Reading this book I discovered that other peole have pondered these exact same thoughts. Guy Deutcher, for one, has spent many days and nights wondering about the origins of human language - and has even come up with some pretty astounding ideas. He presents his beliefs in a logical way. They make se More...
Reading this book I discovered that other peole have pondered these exact same thoughts. Guy Deutcher, for one, has spent many days and nights wondering about the origins of human language - and has even come up with some pretty astounding ideas. He presents his beliefs in a logical way. They make se More...
May 18, 2011
Anne
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Overall a very engaging read. The author did not let me down as far as writing style; he's both quippy and clever. He also managed to keep my attention even through some pretty minutia-filled explanations of grammar by selecting meaningful examples. And, best of all, I learned some intriguing things about the how languages develop and change.
Heh, don't think I'm not going to use everything I read here to defend my abuses of the English language. Hee, I'm not dumbing down the languag More...
Heh, don't think I'm not going to use everything I read here to defend my abuses of the English language. Hee, I'm not dumbing down the languag More...
May 08, 2009
Cameron
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The mysterious ways in which languages change and evolve while its native speakers in only one or two generations haven't a clue is explained. Many popular misconceptions about language are debunked.
Dec 30, 2011
Albert
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surprisingly enlightening the answer to the questions
how did language start
how does it change
what is correct grammar and syntax
how does language affect the way we view the world
how did language start
how does it change
what is correct grammar and syntax
how does language affect the way we view the world
Apr 27, 2011
Pancha
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This book and Through the Language Glass have some overlap, which can be annoying if you are reading them one after the other the way I did. That said, this is a fun and fascinating look at the way language changes, and includes modern examples that help explain how words can come to mean the opposite of what they started as. Lots of examples of changing language in action in general.
Jun 13, 2009
Miriam
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One of the most astoundingly brilliant books I've ever read. Makes a case for how crazy things like noun cases and conjugation develop—and why they go away again. So so good.
Oct 31, 2011
carriedaway
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A really accessible book on the revolution, devolution and evolution of language, that's only occasionally dry. His take on "gonna" may have converted me.
