A Mouthful of Air: Languages and Language, Especially English

by Anthony Burgess

The author of more than 50 books--including the classic A Clockwork Orange--presents a fascinating survey of language: how it reached its present situation; how it operates now; and how it will develop in the future. Anthony Burgess covers everything from Shakespeare's pronunciation, to the politics of speech, to the place of English in the world, and more.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Linguistics, Writing, Philosophy, British Literature, Reference

347 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Seriocomic novels of noted British writer and critic Anthony Burgess, pen name of John Burgess Wilson, include the futuristic classic A Clockwork Orange (1962).

He composed also a librettos, poems, plays, screens, and essays and traveled, broadcast, translated, linguist and educationalist. He lived for long periods in southeastern Asia, the United States of America, and Europe along Mediterranean Sea as well as England. His fiction embraces the Malayan trilogy ( The Long Day Wanes ) on the dying days of empire in the east. The Enderby quartet concerns a poet and his muse. Nothing like the Sun re-creates love life of William Shakespeare. He explores the nature of evil with Earthly Powers , a panoramic saga of the 20th century. He published studies of James Joyce, Ernest Miller Hemingway, Shakespeare, and David Herbert Lawrence. He produced the treatises Language Made Plain and A Mouthful of Air . His journalism proliferated in several languages. He translated and adapted Cyrano de Bergerac , Oedipus the King , and Carmen for the stage. He scripted Jesus of Nazareth and Moses the Lawgiver for the screen. He invented the prehistoric language, spoken in Quest for Fire . He composed the Sinfoni Melayu , the Symphony (No. 3) in C , and the opera Blooms of Dublin .

Reviews

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because I didn't always agree with it. It was fun to read, and I kept up a conversation with it as I read. Anthony Burgess has a strong, opinionated voice, and it's easy to have an opinion in return. Even when I disagreed, I was thinking.

And of course, I loved the book because I'm a serious language nerd. It's so much fun to read about the language you use regularly and to consider all the aspects of a language, both written and spoken. It's fun to place words into context, and to think about what a written word is meant to convey and represent.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who isn't also a language nerd, but if you are - if you find yourself compulsively correcting punctuation and grammar in news stories, reading dictionaries for fun, or picking up The Chicago Manual of Style for a bit of light reading, my guess is that you'll get a kick out of this book, too.

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting study of language (phonetics in particular) that possibly doesn't rank in the Saussure/Chomsky (etc) canon but presents some complex ideas in a very accessible way. Underlying it all is a sense of humankind's shared heritage and the things that bond us, whereas language can - on the face of it - be very divisive.

[Kevin Y Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book discussing a wide variety of topics in language and linguistics! Although this seems like an introductory, non-technical book, I would recommend it only if you have some prior knowledge of linguistics (only a little is necessary). For each topic, Burgess goes straight to the interesting tidbits, which was excellent if I had some background in that topic, but would go right over my head if I didn't.

[rabbitprincess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off strong, with an in-depth look at language in general and several foreign languages in particular. For example, Burgess devotes an entire chapter to "the sentence" and compares syntactical patterns from various languages. The Romance languages, Russian, German and Malay each receive their own substantial chapters, as does Japanese, although that chapter is almost disappointingly short in comparison to those devoted to other languages.

The best chapter in this first part was called "Should we learn foreign languages?", which extolled the virtue of learning a foreign language and included great tips for how to start the learning process. As a language aficionado, I approved wholeheartedly of this chapter's argument.

The second half of the book dealt with the history of English, which is a broad subject in itself. It was also somewhat boring. The sections dealing with Anglo-Saxon times and Beowulf English were dry reading for me, and I admit to having skimmed those parts more than I probably should have. A chapter on Scottish English, meanwhile, was ruined for me because my book, which came from the public library, had highlighted parts labelled "Wrong". I am appalled when I find writing in library books -- I consider them to be public property, so writing in them is akin to scrawling graffiti on a park bench. Someone else had also been writing pedantic corrections to the section on Latin (or maybe it was the same person), and that too was annoying. Look, if you own the book, mark it up as you please, but don't mark up a book that isn't yours.

In any case, other people's vandalism has nothing to do with the book's content, so I shall continue with my review. Yes, the section on the history of English was less interesting than the part on language in general and foreign languages in particular. I actually stopped reading in the middle of the last chapter, which was on how to teach English in schools, because it was rather dull.

Despite the dull sections, the book was overall an interesting read. Burgess is liberal with his examples, especially in the first part, although his chapter on The Great Vowel Shift is quite instructive as well as he shows, using IPA, how Shakespeare himself may have sounded reading his sonnets aloud. So the first part, plus little gems like these, make this book worth a read for all language lovers.

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book-length nonfiction by Anthony Burgess that I’ve ever read, and to be honest I was somewhat disappointed. As the title implies, the subject at hand is language in general and English in particular. To be sure, he has many fascinating things to say on the subject. He also has a whole lot of dull, tedious things he feels the need to share. And sadly, the two are unevenly intermixed. I admit that part of my lack of enchantment was due to my disinterest in what he had to say about spoken language (I’m more interested in the written stuff) and my reluctance to follow his advice and learn the IPA. However, even a reader who loves the spoken word would surely find the minute dissection of British dialects a little dull. Overall I’m not sorry I read this, but it wasn’t exactly my favorite encounter with Burgess.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 actual. I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if it hadn’t been in many ways a rehash of much of what I studied and learned in grad school. I just can’t fully agree with Burgess’s insistence that everyone first and foremost needs to learn the IPA and to pronounce each phone accurately. The exact speech sounds of a language, dialect, creole, or idiolect, while interesting, are not essential either for learning to speak them adequately or for identifying some deep “true” character in their speakers.

[Jenine]

Didn't finish. I liked the writing style and the occasional nuggets of fun language info. But the list of pronunciation symbols and the discussion of phonemes and their physical production left me pretty sleepy.

[Nick Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazon 2008-05-03. WOW, the single best book on linguistics I've ever read, with all the panache and elan typical of Mr. Burgess.

[Cat Voleur · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The questioning of linguistic conventions is one of the main duties of what we call literature."

I have always been interested in foreign language. To be able to speak in something other than one's mother tongue is such a beautiful gift. It wasn't until fairly recently, however, that I began to develop an appreciation for linguistics in its entirety. The continual bastardization of language makes it more of an entity than a field of study.

The book that sparked my interest in this topic was A Clockwork Orange so you can imagine how delighted I was to find that its author had written a book that could further enlighten me.

It's not a book that would be interesting to everyone, but I do think there's something in there for everyone. It covers such a wide variety of languages, dialects, and social aspects that I learned a lot about topics I would not have previously considered to be relevant to me at all.

I would recommend it widely to avid readers, and whole-heartedly to writers. Even if you don't enjoy it as much as I did (I believe you have to have very specific tastes to truly find delight in a book of this nature) but it encourages a deeper appreciation of words and a better understanding of what determines literary status.

I know that I'll be drawing inspiration from it in my future writing.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Burgess is full of enthusiasm to share what he knows about language & languages with the reader, but he kind of goes on a bit, plus it all seems a bit haphazard - chapter themes are reasonably clear but within the chapters it feels like "and then... and then ... and then...", and after a while it gets tedious, or it did for me.
Years ago, in my teens I suppose, I had an Anthony Burgess phase, and reading this I seemed to recall that he pretty much always had that prolixity, except in his slim debut, A Clockwork Orange. There is a bit of a show-off aspect to it, though it's not really smart-arsy, more like a child's ingenuous pride: look, look, I've got some Proto-Indo-European!
Either way, I lost patience with it and started skimming ruthlessly. Funny that someone so well versed was apparently such a poor editor of his own work.
There is lots of interesting stuff in here, if you're interested in language. I enjoyed the section on Malay, and relatedly his musings about the diversity of languages - and some other bits, I'm sure.
But he tries to cover so much ground that it's exhausting and indigestible, without any overall arc or theme (besides 'language(s)').

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent linguistics primer, even several decades after publication. But what I found almost more interesting than the subject matter was the way Burgess presented it through his own perspective. There's an almost humorous tension between his relatively forward-thinking embrace of all languages and dialects as valuable (as befits a linguist) and his conservative, post-imperial but still not post-colonial British pride. In the same "breath" he could expound the value of honoring other dialects than RP while still calling the language of youths inferior and "poverty-stricken". My favorite moment might have been his decision to use the male pronoun to refer to an indeterminate subject and then his aside mentioning that deference to feminist grammar was "a waste of time" - surely it took more time to make that excuse than to just carry on?

All this to say, I have half a degree in linguistics and still found myself surprised by half of what he was saying. Entertaining in more ways than he probably intended, but at its core still an enjoyable exploration of what makes English - and indeed all languages - so special.

[Benj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burgess' idiosyncratic, heartfelt and occasionally amusing analysis of language and linguistics. Extra interest is added by his knowledge of, and introduction to, Asian languages such as Malay and Chinese - some linguists never get past Latin and Greek, French and German.

He introduces us to the International Phonetic Alphabet early on, and then refers back to it constantly. We readers who do not have photographic memories would appreciate an appendix listing it in its entirety.

Apart from that caveat, an utterly fascinating and enjoyable book.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like a 300 level linguistics course taught by a lovable old professor who loves what he is teaching but is a bit all over the place. There are some very interesting ideas, facts and tidbits about language all over this but also some pretty intense and technical discussions of physical speech that seem a little out of place with the rest of the book. So this book is a little uneven but it is still a great and interesting read.

[Morgan Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a witty introduction to a broad range of linguistics and language subjects, which anyone with an amateur interest in language ought to try for the fun of it. Burgess doesn't present any new ideas, sure, but his familiarity with and excitement about the subject come through continually as he jumps between phonetics and historical linguistics and syntax and grammar and language education.

[Susan Hayman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book, especially for the great account of phonetics (vowels and consonants) and also nice introductory chapters on Japanese, German, Russian and Welsh. Very nice account of English history too (in the first chapter of the second half of the book devoted to different aspects of English).

[Amanda Ure · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most influential books I've ever read. Outstanding. I actually stole it from my father because I liked it so much.

[Eric Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to linguistics, with lots of great examples from languages around the world.

[Marley Pine]

dnf @ the first page
this has never happened before
1 page and done
wow

[Derek Bridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dripping with erudition but also the work of a hobbyist. A strange fixation with phonetics at the expense of syntax. Semantics and pragmatics don't really get a look in.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars feels a bit severe but I've been reading this book for so long that I've ended up skipping a lot of it and only reading the chapters that sound interesting. There are lots of fascinating and useful facts about language in here which will definitely have helped me with learning French and Spanish in some small way. However I got very bogged down in the lengthy descriptions of how words are pronounced in the mouth, along with the IPA, which was like a foreign language to me (pun intended).

[Nina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Highly interesting, but not particularly readable. Contains sentences like, "The free form opposes the bound form, or the autosemanteme the synsemanteme." Whereas Umberto Eco's use of language is thrilling and draws you in, Burgess seems more inclined to just show off. The book does a good job of showing the evolution of English and why we could never have a phonetic spelling system for English without dying the rich dialects and accents.

[Poindextra · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me FOREVER to read this book. The cover says it's book for non-scholars, but I found it quite thick and daunting. I ended up skimming a lot of the esoteric phonetic details. The book got much more readable (and enjoyable) toward the end where he goes into the history of the English language itself. I wish those chapters had been at the beginning.

[Lisette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and readable intro to linguistics for the interested lay person. I read it just before I started a master's degree in linguistics, and this book helped lay groundwork that helped me process what I encountered in my courses. I recommend it often.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burgess was quite the prose stylist and polymath. His thoughts are always lucidly composed and conveyed, as here, on the subject of language.

[Dave Haskins]

Language,English

[Ak Hauck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deep into the grammar jungle, but great fun.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a writer, or a communicator in any medium, this is required reading. The basis of all human communication is still language. Technology rules, but words survive. This is a book about talking.

[Cat. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too dense for me right now.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an author I truly admire for his command of language, this book is an interesting take on the English language.

[Morgana Blackrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunningly erudite, witty and never boring. This book has been a huge inspiration to me and my own writing.