Customer Reviews

History of Language (Reaktion Books - Globalities)

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The history of language is a fascinating thing. It's a tough thing to trace in some cultures where writing wasn't developed, and where writing was developed we can only guess what it sounded like before audio recording equipment was developed. This book give a good history of all we know about language starting from first principles of where language developed and how it works in lower animals.

The evolution of European languages is what I was most interested in, and I'm pleased with the depth that Fischer goes into. Prose is a difficult medium to use to get across the spread of languages though, and I think that better use of diagrams and maps would have been in order. (Ideally, an animation would be the only way to truly explain it.)

The only other problem I had with this book was the chapter about the history of the study of linguistics, which I didn't find terribly interesting, and I skipped to the end of that part.

Still a good read though.

This book gives a clear, concise, and riveting explanation of the development of language and evolution of languages. Fischer manages to write a treatise that is both scholarly and popular at the same time. The only thing I miss is a chapter on popoualtion movement and languages that exist on the fringes - like the Tierra del Fuego languages.

I rank Fischer with Pinkner and Crystal as one of those gifted writers whicn can make an onerous topic understandable by anyone.

I was particularly interested in the 2nd chapter, on the development of language into humans and its comparison with the communication abilities of other animals and in particular our close cousins the apes.

The rest of the book gives a clear, succinct and comprehensible overview of the field of linguistics.

A great read for anyone with a general interest in linguistics!

A fascinating and well-rounded book!

I aspire to be a multi-linguist, and reading this book has really improved my acquisition and ability to communicate in foreign languages.... even though it's a history book and has nothing to do with the actual learning of a foreign language. Dispelling myths about the origins of language, connecting the evolutionary dots and getting back to the fundamental reason why language exists (to communicate) has been inspirational as well as helpful.

My only wish is that the middle was as flowing and enjoyable to read as the beginning and end.... it would then be the perfect book.