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This list is for the most well known language books on Goodreads,
For purposes of this list, only include books with over 500 ratings and shelved at least 40 times as language.
Anything with less than 500 ratings or shelved less than 40 times as language will be removed and without comment.
See also:
Best Books about Linguistics
Books for language lovers
Fun Linguistics Word book
Books used in my linguistics degree
Translation Theory Reading List
By Decade:
2010s
Related Lists By Topic:
All, Anthropology, Astronomy, Autobiography, Biography, Biology, Botany, Children, Classics, Climate, Computer Science, Economics, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Genetics, Geology, Geography, Graphic Novels, History, Historical Fiction, Horror, Judaism, Language, Manga, Medicine, Middle School, Military Science Fiction, Music, Mysteries, Nature, New Adult, Non-Fiction, Pagan, Pandemic, Philosophy, Picture Books, Poetry, Politics, Productivity, Psychology, Racism, Romance, Science, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Software Architecture, Space Opera, Steampunk, Travel, Young Adult
For purposes of this list, only include books with over 500 ratings and shelved at least 40 times as language.
Anything with less than 500 ratings or shelved less than 40 times as language will be removed and without comment.
See also:
Best Books about Linguistics
Books for language lovers
Fun Linguistics Word book
Books used in my linguistics degree
Translation Theory Reading List
By Decade:
2010s
Related Lists By Topic:
All, Anthropology, Astronomy, Autobiography, Biography, Biology, Botany, Children, Classics, Climate, Computer Science, Economics, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Genetics, Geology, Geography, Graphic Novels, History, Historical Fiction, Horror, Judaism, Language, Manga, Medicine, Middle School, Military Science Fiction, Music, Mysteries, Nature, New Adult, Non-Fiction, Pagan, Pandemic, Philosophy, Picture Books, Poetry, Politics, Productivity, Psychology, Racism, Romance, Science, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Software Architecture, Space Opera, Steampunk, Travel, Young Adult
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 101 |
|
On Language
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3.82 avg rating — 1,059 ratings
score: 147,
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3 people voted
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| 102 |
|
Course in General Linguistics
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3.97 avg rating — 3,597 ratings
score: 145,
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2 people voted
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| 102 |
|
The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English
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3.70 avg rating — 542 ratings
score: 145,
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2 people voted
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| 104 |
|
Language and Mind
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3.84 avg rating — 1,309 ratings
score: 143,
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3 people voted
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| 105 |
|
Syntactic Structures
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3.83 avg rating — 888 ratings
score: 139,
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3 people voted
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| 106 |
|
Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything
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3.78 avg rating — 2,771 ratings
score: 134,
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2 people voted
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| 106 |
|
Wheelock's Latin
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4.13 avg rating — 1,792 ratings
score: 134,
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2 people voted
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| 108 |
|
Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite
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3.81 avg rating — 940 ratings
score: 131,
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3 people voted
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| 109 |
|
Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners
by
Michael Erard (Goodreads Author)
3.54 avg rating — 1,476 ratings
score: 128,
and
2 people voted
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| 110 |
|
501 French Verbs (Barron's 501 French Verbs) (English and French Edition)
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4.25 avg rating — 648 ratings
score: 127,
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3 people voted
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| 111 |
|
The Story of English in 100 Words
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3.92 avg rating — 2,522 ratings
score: 124,
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2 people voted
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| 112 |
|
Words and Rules
by
Steven Pinker (Goodreads Author)
3.91 avg rating — 1,923 ratings
score: 121,
and
2 people voted
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| 113 |
|
The American Language
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4.12 avg rating — 547 ratings
score: 120,
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2 people voted
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| 114 |
|
Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
by
Constance Hale (Goodreads Author)
3.94 avg rating — 2,345 ratings
score: 117,
and
2 people voted
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| 115 |
|
Speaking American: How Y'all, Youse, and You Guys Talk: A Visual Guide
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4.18 avg rating — 1,292 ratings
score: 112,
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2 people voted
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| 116 |
|
The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu
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3.75 avg rating — 2,405 ratings
score: 111,
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2 people voted
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| 117 |
|
Polyglot: How I Learn Languages
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3.82 avg rating — 1,412 ratings
score: 109,
and
2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Babel
by
R.F. Kuang (Goodreads Author)
4.15 avg rating — 423,889 ratings
score: 105,
and
2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
1984
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4.20 avg rating — 5,305,715 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Naming and Necessity
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 4,469 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Babel-17
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3.72 avg rating — 19,712 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
The Search for the Perfect Language
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3.96 avg rating — 842 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Of Grammatology
by
3.97 avg rating — 5,314 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
You Say Potato: A Book About Accents
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3.88 avg rating — 633 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
The Language of the Third Reich: LTI--Lingua Tertii Imperii: A Philologist's Notebook
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4.34 avg rating — 1,512 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
|
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| 118 |
|
My Grammar and I... Or Should That Be Me?: How to Speak and Write It Right
by
Caroline Taggart (Goodreads Author)
3.84 avg rating — 1,382 ratings
score: 105,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 118 |
|
Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation
by
3.66 avg rating — 681 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
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3.95 avg rating — 61,037 ratings
score: 105,
and
2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Poetry, Language, Thought
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4.11 avg rating — 3,649 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Language, Truth and Logic
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3.75 avg rating — 4,199 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Garner's Modern American Usage
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4.60 avg rating — 1,064 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
The Little Prince
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4.33 avg rating — 2,408,510 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach
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4.27 avg rating — 955 ratings
score: 105,
and
2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Language and Symbolic Power
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4.19 avg rating — 974 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language
by
Dianne Hales (Goodreads Author)
3.77 avg rating — 1,781 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
The Power of Language: How the Codes We Use to Think, Speak, and Live Transform Our Minds
by
Viorica Marian (Goodreads Author)
4.06 avg rating — 953 ratings
score: 105,
and
2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
GENKI: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, Vol. II
by
4.35 avg rating — 687 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
The Story of Spanish
by
Jean-Benoît Nadeau (Goodreads Author)
3.93 avg rating — 606 ratings
score: 105,
and
2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian
by
Ellen Jovin (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,259 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
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4.17 avg rating — 5,338 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Native Tongue (Native Tongue, #1)
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 4,654 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
The Greatest Invention: A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts
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3.45 avg rating — 706 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York
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4.21 avg rating — 727 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Beowulf
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3.50 avg rating — 340,856 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding
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3.66 avg rating — 9,957 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story
by
3.62 avg rating — 634 ratings
score: 105,
and
2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen
by
3.63 avg rating — 2,100 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar
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4.26 avg rating — 2,809 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Word Perfect: Etymological Entertainment For Every Day of the Year
by
4.28 avg rating — 1,508 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 118 |
|
Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods
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3.64 avg rating — 1,506 ratings
score: 105,
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2 people voted
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| 151 |
|
How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
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3.98 avg rating — 27,343 ratings
score: 104,
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2 people voted
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| 152 |
|
Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You
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4.17 avg rating — 678 ratings
score: 103,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Other-Wordly: Words Both Strange and Lovely from Around the World
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4.21 avg rating — 2,130 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life
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4.33 avg rating — 47,736 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Myths, Lies and Half-Truths of Language Usage
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4.37 avg rating — 618 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women's Words
by
Jenni Nuttall (Goodreads Author)
3.79 avg rating — 1,228 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word
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4.14 avg rating — 2,087 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Om Bullshit
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3.58 avg rating — 15,455 ratings
score: 102,
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| 153 |
|
When in French: Love in a Second Language
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3.51 avg rating — 3,629 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
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4.45 avg rating — 5,760 ratings
score: 102,
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| 153 |
|
Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind
by
Margalit Fox (Goodreads Author)
4.02 avg rating — 527 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain
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4.20 avg rating — 598 ratings
score: 102,
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| 153 |
|
Linguistics: A Very Short Introduction
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3.30 avg rating — 982 ratings
score: 102,
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| 153 |
|
Landmarks
by
Robert Macfarlane (Goodreads Author)
4.24 avg rating — 4,359 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Language A to Z
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4.27 avg rating — 979 ratings
score: 102,
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| 153 |
|
Language Families of the World
by
John McWhorter (Author, Narrator)
4.42 avg rating — 980 ratings
score: 102,
and
2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Don't Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language
by
3.74 avg rating — 794 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 153 |
|
Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca
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4.15 avg rating — 1,194 ratings
score: 102,
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2 people voted
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| 169 |
|
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language
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4.32 avg rating — 802 ratings
score: 101,
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| 169 |
|
The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English
by
Hana Videen (Goodreads Author)
4.24 avg rating — 1,043 ratings
score: 101,
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2 people voted
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| 169 |
|
How Language Began: The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention
by
3.43 avg rating — 991 ratings
score: 101,
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| 172 |
|
Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages
by
Gaston Dorren (Goodreads Author)
3.79 avg rating — 4,097 ratings
score: 100,
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| 172 |
|
Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global
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4.28 avg rating — 1,323 ratings
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| 174 |
|
In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth
by
4.08 avg rating — 800 ratings
score: 95,
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2 people voted
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174 books ·
37 voters ·
list created October 18th, 2018
by Mitchell Friedman (votes) .
Tags:
500, etymology, language, lexicography, linguistics, mjf, mjf-topic-list, morphology, most-rated, phonetics, phonology, popular, ratings, semantics, syntax, translation
Mitchell
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Mitchell
(last edited Apr 21, 2024 11:21PM)
(new)
Apr 21, 2024 11:21PM
Some maintenance was performed on this list. Some inappropriate books removed, additional books added
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The following books were removed due to not having 40 or more shelving as language:26 A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea
23 The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image
<3 Confessions of a Public Speaker
<2 Write for Life: Creative Tools for Every Writer
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