The Five-Minute Linguist has been a popular introduction to the subject of language because it is succinct, clear, accurate, -- and fun to read. Now in its second edition, updated and expanded, the book has been warmly received by readers across the globe because it offers quick and reliable answers to questions about language that most of us have, such as: How many languages are there? What was the first language? What causes foreign accents? Are dialects dying? The book is the work of experts, authoritative and full of facts, but not technical or aimed at an audience of scholars. It is used by beginning students of linguistics and anthropology, and has broad appeal for general readers, people who read for enjoyment as well as knowledge. It has a conversational style that feels more like a series of fireside chats than a college textbook, because it started life as a series of five-minute radio broadcasts. Its chapters are short, suitable for browsing or reading on the run. But although it is intentionally light in tone, the book is full of up-to-date information, written by a cross-section of leading linguists in the U.S. and abroad. The second edition of the book was produced under the sponsorship of the Linguistic Society of America and the (U.S.) National Museum of Language.
Les mer
The Five-Minute Linguist has been a popular introduction to the subject of language because it is succinct, clear, accurate, -- and fun to read. Now in its second edition, the book has been warmly received by readers across the globe because it offers quick and reliable answers to questions about language that most of us have
Les mer
Foreword Bret Lovejoy, Executive Director, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Introduction E.M. "Rick" Rickerson and Barry Hilton 1 Why learn about language? Robert Rodman 2 You're a linguist? How many languages do you speak? Paul Chapin 3 How many languages are there in the world? M. Paul Lewis 4 What's the difference between dialects and languages? G. Tucker Childs 5 What was the original language? Barry Hilton 6 Do all languages come from the same source? Allan Bomhard 7 What language did Adam and Eve speak? E.M. "Rick" Rickerson 8 Do languages have to change? John McWhorter 9 What are lingua francas? Nicholas Ostler 10 Are pidgins and Creoles real languages? John Lipski 11 How many kinds of writing systems are there? Peter Daniels 12 Where did writing come from? Peter Daniels 13 Where does grammar come from? Joan Bybee 14 Do all languages have the same grammar? Mark Baker 15 How do babies learn their mother tongue? Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathryn Hirsch-Pasek 16 Do animals use language? Donna Jo Napoli 17 How does the brain cope with multiple languages? Henk Haarmann 18 Does our language influence the way we think? Geoffrey Pullum 19 What's the right way to put words together? Dennis Preston 20 Is British English the best English? Orin Hargraves 21 Why do people fight over language? Paul Garrett 22 What does it mean to be bilingual? Dora Johnson 23 How many languages can a person learn? Richard Hudson 24 What is "speaking in tongues"? Walt Wolfram 25 What happens if you are raised without language? Susan Curtiss 26 Do deaf people everywhere use the same sign language? Leila Monaghan 27 Why do languages die? Christopher Moseley 28 Can a threatened language be saved? Akira Yamamoto et al. 29 Why do American southerners talk that way? Walt Wolfram 30 What causes foreign accents? Steven Weinberger 31 How are the sounds of language made? Peter Ladefoged 32 Can monolingualism be cured? Katherine Sprang 33 What does it take to learn a language well? Nina Garrett 34 How has our thinking about language learning changed through the years? June Phillips 35 Why study languages abroad? Sheri Spaine Long 36 Is elementary school too early to teach foreign languages? Gladys Lipton 37 Can computers teach languages faster and better? Sue E.K. Otto 38 What's the language of the United States? David Goldberg 39 Is there a language crisis in the U.S.? Catherine Ingold 40 What's the future of Spanish in the U.S.? Maria Carreira 41 What is Cajun and where did it come from? Robyn Holman 42 Did German almost become the language of the U.S.? Nancy Nenno 43 What's Gullah? Elizabeth Martinez-Gibson 44 Are U.S. dialects dying? Walt Wolfram 45 Can you make a living loving languages? Frederick H. Jackson 46 How are dictionaries made? Erin McKean 47 Why do we need translators if we have dictionaries? Kevin Hendzel 48 How good is machine translation? David Savignac 49 Can you use language to solve crimes? Robert Rodman 50 How can you keep languages in a museum? Amelia Murdoch 51 Where did English come from? John Algeo 52 How many Native American languages are there? Marianne Mithun 53 Is Latin really dead? Frank Morris 54 Who speaks Italian? Dennis Looney 55 How different are Portuguese and Spanish? Ana Carvalho 56 Should we be studying Russian? Benjamin Rifkin 57 What's exciting about Icelandic? Pardee Lowe 58 What's the difference between Hebrew and Yiddish? Neil G. Jacobs 59 Do all Arabs speak the same language? Jerry Lampe 60 Is Swahili the language of Africa? Donald Osborn 61 Do you have to be a masochist to study Chinese? Barry Hilton 62 Is studying Japanese worth the effort? Blaine Erickson 63 What's the language of India? Vijay Gambhir 64 Whatever happened to Esperanto? Arika Okrent and E.M. "Rick" Rickerson 65 Does anybody here speak Klingon? Christopher Moseley
Les mer
'An excellent, very accessible, and extremely easy- and fun-to-read introduction to some of the basic questions (and misconceptions) regarding language, language learning, and linguistics. The book clearly meets the editors' intended goals; with each essay, the reader is engaged in a five-minute, light and informal conversation about the passionate topic of language.' Linguist List 23.4805, November 2012 Praise for the first edition: 'What a gift to those who love language and those who are simply curious about it. Leading experts each tackle an intriguing question, and explain it in straightforward, delightful prose. Read it from cover to cover or keep it by your bed to dip into for endless fascination.' Deborah Tannen, Professor of Linguistics, Georgetown University, and author of You Just Don't Understand 'This is a marvelous collection of informative, provocative and stimulating essays. The topics that were selected are both timely, and timeless, and the essays are sure to pique the curiosity of a broad range of readers. The material is accessible and the suggestions for further reading are wonderful pointers to additional exploration. This collection certainly has my five-star recommendation.' G. Richard Tucker, Paul Mellon University Professor of Applied Linguistics, Carnegie Mellon University 'Book and Web site are excellent supplements for introduction to linguistics courses, recommended for language majors, and attractive to language afficionados and mavens. Essential.' Choice
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781908049490
Publisert
2012-04-20
Utgave
2. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Equinox Publishing Ltd
Høyde
234 mm
Bredde
156 mm
Aldersnivå
01, G
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
320

Biographical note

E. M. Rickerson is Director Emeritus of the award-winning language program at the College of Charleston (S.C.). In 2005 Dr. Rickerson created a radio series on languages which was broadcast on public and college radio stations -- and on which The Five-Minute Linguist was based Barry Hilton is a freelance writer/editor and independent scholar living in Maine. He was a member of the editorial board that reviewed the radio scripts on which The Five-Minute Linguist was based.