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Great reads about language, languages, and linguistics. Some textbooks, some popular nonfiction. Vote for your favorites!
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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.
| 99 |
|
The QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins: Fourth Edition by Robert. Hendrickson (2008-05-04)
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3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
score: 89,
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1 person voted
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| 102 |
|
The the Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic (McGill-Queen's Native and Northern Series)
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3.75 avg rating — 16 ratings
score: 88,
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1 person voted
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| 102 |
|
The Genius of Language: Fifteen Writers Reflect on Their Mother Tongue
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3.68 avg rating — 569 ratings
score: 88,
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1 person voted
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| 104 |
|
Language Planning and National Development: The Uzbek Experience
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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
score: 87,
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1 person voted
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| 104 |
|
The Language Imperative: The Power of Language to Enrich Your Life and Expand Your Mind
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3.42 avg rating — 19 ratings
score: 87,
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1 person voted
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| 106 |
|
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
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4.36 avg rating — 659 ratings
score: 86,
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1 person voted
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| 106 |
|
You Need to Read This: The Death of the Imperative Mode, the Rise of the American Glottal Stop, the Bizarre Popularity of "Amongst," and Other Cuckoo Things That Have Happened to the English Language
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3.90 avg rating — 30 ratings
score: 86,
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1 person voted
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| 108 |
|
Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice: An Introduction to Applied Sociolinguistics
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4.33 avg rating — 36 ratings
score: 85,
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1 person voted
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| 108 |
|
The Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words
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3.76 avg rating — 384 ratings
score: 85,
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1 person voted
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| 110 |
|
Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics
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4.14 avg rating — 79 ratings
score: 84,
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1 person voted
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| 110 |
|
That's Not What I Meant!: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships
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3.96 avg rating — 1,961 ratings
score: 84,
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1 person voted
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| 112 |
|
Course in General Linguistics
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3.97 avg rating — 3,604 ratings
score: 83,
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| 112 |
|
Limits of Language: Almost Everything You Didn't Know You Didn't Know about Language and Languages
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4.02 avg rating — 66 ratings
score: 83,
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1 person voted
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| 112 |
|
Language Shock: Understanding The Culture Of Conversation
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3.68 avg rating — 267 ratings
score: 83,
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| 115 |
|
Portraits of "The Whiteman": Linguistic Play and Cultural Symbols Among the Western Apache
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3.65 avg rating — 313 ratings
score: 82,
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1 person voted
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| 115 |
|
Language: Its Structure and Use
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3.84 avg rating — 308 ratings
score: 82,
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| 117 |
|
Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca
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4.15 avg rating — 1,195 ratings
score: 81,
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1 person voted
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| 117 |
|
Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
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3.74 avg rating — 191 ratings
score: 81,
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| 119 |
|
A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism
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3.69 avg rating — 99 ratings
score: 80,
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1 person voted
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| 120 |
|
An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics)
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3.81 avg rating — 506 ratings
score: 79,
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| 121 |
|
Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics
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3.68 avg rating — 101 ratings
score: 78,
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1 person voted
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| 122 |
|
The King's English (Oxford Language Classics Series)
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3.71 avg rating — 105 ratings
score: 77,
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1 person voted
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| 122 |
|
The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language
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3.94 avg rating — 5,116 ratings
score: 77,
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1 person voted
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| 124 |
|
The Play of Words
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4.03 avg rating — 134 ratings
score: 76,
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| 124 |
|
The Viking and the Red Man: The Old Norse Origin of the Algonquin Language
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0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings
score: 76,
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1 person voted
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| 126 |
|
The Revenge of Anguished English: More Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language
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3.89 avg rating — 136 ratings
score: 75,
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1 person voted
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| 127 |
|
Words on the Move: Why English Won't—and Can't—Sit Still
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4.14 avg rating — 1,933 ratings
score: 73,
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1 person voted
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| 127 |
|
The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots
by
Calvert Watkins (Editor)
4.44 avg rating — 182 ratings
score: 73,
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1 person voted
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| 129 |
|
What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be
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3.89 avg rating — 795 ratings
score: 72,
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1 person voted
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| 129 |
|
The Illustrated Dictionary of Snark: A Snide, Sarcastic Guide to Verbal Sparring, Comebacks, Irony, Insults, and Much More
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3.21 avg rating — 48 ratings
score: 72,
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1 person voted
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| 131 |
|
Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of "Pure" Standard English
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3.90 avg rating — 243 ratings
score: 71,
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1 person voted
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| 131 |
|
Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary: Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of
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3.68 avg rating — 316 ratings
score: 71,
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1 person voted
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| 133 |
|
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
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3.84 avg rating — 121,143 ratings
score: 70,
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1 person voted
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| 134 |
|
Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods
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3.64 avg rating — 1,508 ratings
score: 69,
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1 person voted
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| 134 |
|
English derived from Hebrew
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0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings
score: 69,
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1 person voted
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| 136 |
|
The New Joys of Yiddish: Completely Updated
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4.26 avg rating — 224 ratings
score: 68,
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1 person voted
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| 136 |
|
Utterly Lost in Translation: Even More Misadventures in English Abroad
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3.33 avg rating — 15 ratings
score: 68,
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1 person voted
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| 138 |
|
Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English
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3.93 avg rating — 176 ratings
score: 67,
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1 person voted
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| 139 |
|
Language and Power
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4.04 avg rating — 315 ratings
score: 66,
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| 139 |
|
How to Speak Brit: The Quintessential Guide to the King's English, Cockney Slang, and Other Flummoxing British Phrases
by
C.J. Moore (Goodreads Author)
3.48 avg rating — 378 ratings
score: 66,
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1 person voted
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| 141 |
|
Language and Symbolic Power
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4.19 avg rating — 977 ratings
score: 65,
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| 142 |
|
Man Made Language
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4.24 avg rating — 200 ratings
score: 64,
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1 person voted
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| 143 |
|
Talking Power: The Politics Of Language
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3.74 avg rating — 19 ratings
score: 63,
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1 person voted
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| 144 |
|
The Language War
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3.74 avg rating — 81 ratings
score: 62,
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| 145 |
|
English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States
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4.16 avg rating — 307 ratings
score: 61,
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1 person voted
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| 146 |
|
Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice Among Latina Youth Gangs
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3.99 avg rating — 305 ratings
score: 60,
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1 person voted
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| 147 |
|
The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language
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3.73 avg rating — 1,054 ratings
score: 58,
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1 person voted
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| 148 |
|
Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us
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3.89 avg rating — 151 ratings
score: 57,
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1 person voted
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| 149 |
|
Language Change: Progress or Decay?
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3.85 avg rating — 315 ratings
score: 56,
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1 person voted
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| 150 |
|
The Skin That We Speak
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4.27 avg rating — 823 ratings
score: 55,
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| 151 |
|
Forgotten English: A Merry Guide to Antiquated Words, Packed with History, Fun Facts, Literary Excerpts, and Charming Drawings
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3.70 avg rating — 214 ratings
score: 54,
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1 person voted
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| 152 |
|
Articulate While Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the U.S.
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4.25 avg rating — 212 ratings
score: 53,
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1 person voted
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| 153 |
|
Studies in Words
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4.20 avg rating — 495 ratings
score: 52,
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| 154 |
|
History in English Words
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4.09 avg rating — 337 ratings
score: 51,
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1 person voted
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| 155 |
|
English as She Is Spoke
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3.91 avg rating — 626 ratings
score: 50,
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1 person voted
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| 156 |
|
Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin
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3.78 avg rating — 465 ratings
score: 49,
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1 person voted
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| 157 |
|
Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language
by
3.81 avg rating — 620 ratings
score: 47,
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1 person voted
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| 158 |
|
Language Myths
by
Laurie Bauer (Editor)
3.69 avg rating — 1,319 ratings
score: 46,
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1 person voted
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| 159 |
|
The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code
by
Margalit Fox (Goodreads Author)
4.01 avg rating — 3,677 ratings
score: 45,
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1 person voted
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| 160 |
|
The Five-Minute Linguist: Bite-Sized Essays on Language and Languages
by
E.M. Rickerson (Editor)
3.93 avg rating — 183 ratings
score: 44,
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1 person voted
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| 161 |
|
The Last Word: Tales from the Tip of the Mother Tongue
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3.85 avg rating — 117 ratings
score: 43,
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1 person voted
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| 162 |
|
The Linguistics Wars
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3.89 avg rating — 169 ratings
score: 42,
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1 person voted
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| 163 |
|
The story of decipherment: From Egyptian hieroglyphic to linear B
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3.81 avg rating — 59 ratings
score: 41,
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1 person voted
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| 164 |
|
Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language
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3.68 avg rating — 332 ratings
score: 40,
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1 person voted
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| 165 |
|
Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World
by
Ella Frances Sanders (Goodreads Author)
4.23 avg rating — 4,011 ratings
score: 39,
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1 person voted
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| 166 |
|
I Never Knew There Was a Word for It
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3.66 avg rating — 128 ratings
score: 37,
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1 person voted
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| 167 |
|
Language: The Cultural Tool
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3.63 avg rating — 420 ratings
score: 36,
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1 person voted
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| 168 |
|
7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child
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3.68 avg rating — 373 ratings
score: 35,
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1 person voted
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| 169 |
|
Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages
by
Mark Abley (Goodreads Author)
3.85 avg rating — 712 ratings
score: 34,
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1 person voted
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| 170 |
|
Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language
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4.17 avg rating — 670 ratings
score: 33,
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1 person voted
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| 171 |
|
Language in Danger: How Language Losss Threatens Our Future
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3.65 avg rating — 34 ratings
score: 32,
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1 person voted
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| 172 |
|
Native Tongues
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3.70 avg rating — 193 ratings
score: 31,
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| 173 |
|
The Atlas of Languages: The Origin and Development of Languages Throughout the World
by
Bernard Comrie (Editor)
3.85 avg rating — 137 ratings
score: 30,
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1 person voted
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| 174 |
|
Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular and the New Land
by
Harvey Pekar (Editor)
3.69 avg rating — 195 ratings
score: 29,
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1 person voted
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| 175 |
|
Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends
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3.46 avg rating — 348 ratings
score: 28,
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1 person voted
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| 176 |
|
Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation
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3.66 avg rating — 683 ratings
score: 27,
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1 person voted
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| 177 |
|
The Search for the Perfect Language
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3.96 avg rating — 843 ratings
score: 26,
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| 178 |
|
Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths, and Profanity in English
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3.72 avg rating — 99 ratings
score: 24,
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1 person voted
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| 179 |
|
Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning
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3.67 avg rating — 119 ratings
score: 23,
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1 person voted
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| 180 |
|
Linguistic Diversity
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4.11 avg rating — 9 ratings
score: 22,
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| 181 |
|
Bilingual: Life and Reality
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3.98 avg rating — 343 ratings
score: 21,
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| 182 |
|
Talk on the Wild Side: The Untameable Nature of Language
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 250 ratings
score: 20,
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| 183 |
|
Language Unlimited: The Science Behind Our Most Creative Power
by
David Adger (Goodreads Author)
3.67 avg rating — 168 ratings
score: 19,
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| 184 |
|
A Mouthful of Air: Languages and Language, Especially English
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4.08 avg rating — 236 ratings
score: 16,
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| 185 |
|
A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages
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4.07 avg rating — 446 ratings
score: 15,
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| 186 |
|
Genes, Peoples, and Languages
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3.86 avg rating — 789 ratings
score: 14,
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| 187 |
|
Linguistic Variation and Change: On the Historical Sociolinguistics of English (Language in Society 19)
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3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
score: 13,
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| 188 |
|
On Language Change
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3.56 avg rating — 16 ratings
score: 12,
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| 189 |
|
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language
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3.28 avg rating — 614 ratings
score: 11,
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| 190 |
|
Don't Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language
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3.73 avg rating — 794 ratings
score: 10,
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| 191 |
|
The Writing Systems of the World
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3.93 avg rating — 41 ratings
score: 8,
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| 192 |
|
Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika
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4.08 avg rating — 24 ratings
score: 7,
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| 193 |
|
Strange Linguistics: a skeptical linguists looks at non-mainstream ideas about language
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating
score: 6,
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| 194 |
|
Language Crimes: The Use and Abuse of Language Evidence in the Court Room
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4.15 avg rating — 20 ratings
score: 5,
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| 195 |
|
Signotation The Musical Architecture of Signed Languages: The Intersection of Signed Languages, Music and Mathematics
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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| 196 |
|
Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic
by
Karen Stollznow (Goodreads Author)
4.48 avg rating — 31 ratings
score: 3,
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| 197 |
|
Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York
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4.21 avg rating — 743 ratings
score: 2,
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1 person voted
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Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)
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by
Libraia Susan
(new)
Nov 05, 2015 05:11AM
excelent list! Hope we can add more books to this list.
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Great list! I'd add "Fluent in 3 months" too :)
Anyone can add books to this list.
How to Vote
To vote on existing books from the list, beside each book there is a link vote for this book clicking it will add that book to your votes.
To vote on books not in the list or books you couldn't find in the list, you can click on the tab add books to this list and then choose from your books, or simply search.
