Through the Language Glass: Why The World Looks Different in Other Languages
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- Synopsis
- A masterpiece of linguistics scholarship, at once erudite and entertaining, confronts the thorny question of how - and whether - culture shapes language and language, culture. Linguistics has long shied away from claiming any link between a language and the culture of its speakers: too much simplistic (even bigoted) chatter about the romance of Italian and the goose-stepping orderliness of German has made serious thinkers wary of the entire subject. But now, acclaimed linguist Guy Deutscher has dared to reopen the issue. Can culture influence language - and vice versa? Can different languages lead their speakers to different thoughts? Could our experience of the world depend on whether our language has a word for "blue"? Challenging the consensus that the fundaments of language are hard-wired in our genes and thus universal, Deutscher argues that the answer to all these questions is - yes. In thrilling fashion, he takes us from Homer to Darwin, from Yale to the Amazon, from how to name the rainbow to why Russian water - a "she"& - becomes a "he" once you dip a tea bag into her, demonstrating that language does in fact reflect culture in ways that are anything but trivial. Audacious, delightful, and field-changing,Through the Language Glass is a classic of intellectual discovery.
- Copyright:
- 2010
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Book Size:
- 305 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9780805081954
- Publisher:
- Henry Holt & Company
- Date of Addition:
- 10/17/11
- Copyrighted By:
- Guy Deutscher
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- History, Nonfiction, Language Arts
- Submitted By:
- Kari G
- Proofread By:
- Lena
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.