King of the sea

by Derek Bickerton

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Derek Bickerton was a linguist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Based on his work in creole languages in Guyana and Hawaii, he proposed that the features of creole languages provide powerful insights into the development of language both by individuals and as a feature of the human species. He was the originator and main proponent of the language bioprogram hypothesis according to which the similarity of creoles is due to their being formed from a prior pidgin by children who all share a universal human innate grammar capacity.
Bickerton also wrote several novels. He was the father of contemporary artist Ashley Bickerton.

Reviews

[Ushan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bickerton is a professor of linguistics at the University of Hawaii, specializing in the study of creole languages. He asks the question, if dolphins (Steno bredanensis) had a language, what would it be like? He embeds his answer in a totally ridiculous thriller about a dolphin researcher who turns eco-terrorist. Funny how science fiction reflects the fears of its age: a lot of 1950s American science fiction was about nuclear war, this 1979 book is about environmental destruction, and Kim Stanley Robinson has been writing technothrillers about global warming through the 2000s.

[Joe White · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story told from what I consider a unique perspective, or at least different from the expected academic approach.

The grammar was also different enough to make me wonder whether it was intentional or an author's natural habit.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in dolphin research, at least as a scan an reflect item.