Full name: The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language

Author: John McWhorter Year: 2001 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Non Fiction, History, Science, Anthology Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780060520854 006052085X

There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, linguistics professor John McWhorter reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment. Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, Creoles, and nonstandard dialects. Similar books: The Story of Language by Mario Pei How Language Works by David Crystal A History of Language by Steven Roger Fischer The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher The First Word by Christine Kenneally Empires of the Word by Nicholas Ostler Language Play by David Crystal Language Made Plain by Anthony Burgess Through the Language Glass by Guy Deutscher The English Language by David Crystal A Little Book of Language by David Crystal The Loom of Language by Frederick Bodmer Language Myths by Laurie Bauer The Language Wars by Henry Hitchings Language Visible by David Sacks Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade In Small Things Forgotten by James Deetz Breaking the Maya Code by Michael Coe Cannibals and Kings by Marvin Harris Masters of the Planet by Ian Tattersall