Imprisoned in English: The Hazards of English as a Default Language 1st Edition

by Anna Wierzbicka (Author)

5 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0199321506

ISBN-10: 0199321507

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In Imprisoned in English, Anna Wierzbicka argues that in the present English-dominated world, millions of people - including academics, lawyers, diplomats, and writers - can become "prisoners of English", unable to think outside English. In particular, social sciences and the humanities are now increasingly locked in a conceptual framework grounded in English. To most scholars in these fields, treating English as a default language seems a natural thing to do.

The book's approach is interdisciplinary, and its themes range over areas of central interest to anthropology, psychology, and sociology, among others. The linguistic material is drawn from languages of America, Australia, the Pacific, South-East Asia and Europe. Wierzbicka argues that it is time for human sciences to take advantage of English as a global lingua franca while at the same time transcending the limitations of the historically-shaped conceptual vocabulary of English. And she shows how this can be done.

Imprisoned in English: The Hazards of English as a Default Language

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Imprisoned in English is an heroic attempt to truly understand 'others' as subjects rather than objects without assimilating their understandings to one's own. The book summarizes the author's influential and monumental plan for a great escape from ethnocentrism and conceptual parochialism in the humanities and social sciences." --Richard A. Shweder, Harold Higgins Swift Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago

"This book is the latest outstanding product of Anna Wierzbicka's research, driven by her cross-cultural approach and theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). Wierzbicka is excellent in showing how much we are imprisoned in culture-specific English concepts. The book is powerful, and recommended for everyone who is interested in languages." --Istvan Kecskes, founding editor of the journal Intercultural Pragmatics

"Nevertheless, Imprisoned in English is engaging, provocative and wide-ranging in its subject matter. Not only are semantic primes discussed and justified, but they are applied to the fields of linguistic anthropology and endangered languages, politeness research and human emotions, and used to posit a theory of cognitive evolution from the last common ancestors 6 million years ago to the hypothesized emergence of language some 60,000 years ago. And the book's message -- that English, like all languages, is 'culturally shaped, and this has profound consequences for today's globalizing and English-dominated world' -- is an urgent one." --The Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Professor of Linguistics, Australian National University, and author of Semantics, Culture, and Cognition (1992); Semantics: Primes and Universals (1996): Understanding Cultures Through their Keywords (1997); What did Jesus Mean? (2001), and English: Meaning and Culture (2006)

Product details

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (December 6, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0199321507
ISBN-13: 978-0199321506
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 1 x 6.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,700,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3312 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Sociology > Urban
- #4258 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Linguistics
- #6905 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Linguistics

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Top customer reviews

Perfect Timing for Working with Global Leaders

ByRuth B. Shieldson September 2, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I am so grateful for this latest book from Anna Wierzbicka. The timing of the paperback being available was perfect, and it has made a huge difference in my work with well-intentioned global leaders who haven't examined the trap they didn't know they were coming up against by being monolingual speakers of the currently presumed-to-be-default language. Singing this book's praises from the rooftops!

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ByC.R.Selvakumaron September 13, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

An excellent exposure to the pitfalls of Anglocetricism.

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ByJVBon November 23, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Excellent.

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The dangers of language-bound assumptions.

ByDiogeneson May 11, 2015

Format: Paperback

This book has the potential to enlighten monolingual speakers to the role that a languages hegemony can have in undermining equally valid cultural assumptions and values. The author shows her cultural roots in the frequent rebuttals to opposing arguments, which can be stylistically overbearing at times. That aside, the arguments put forth deserve deep reflection and even deeper study for anyone who wishes to gain a more profound understanding of the topics addressed.

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Intellectual rigidity hoist on its own petard.

ByM Leslieon July 20, 2014

Format: Paperback

When I first saw this title I was excited by the concept as expressed in the subtitle. After I few chapters I soured on it. One small annoying this was the preponderance of self-referential quotes by others who agree with her. More importantly she would argue about words being untranslatable such as a language that doesn't have a word for "head' but fails to mention that the word she is talking about can be translated as 'scalp.' There other other more egregious examples of this. What I find most unpleasant about this book is the combative nature, not outwardly but implicitly. It takes a stance and argues it to death without any consideration of the contingencies of her basic argument. Scientists for instance, go to great lengths to define their terms, often quite different from their common usage. English has an incredibly richer, more detailed and varied lexicon than any other language, thus making it, in a practical sense, most appropriate as a lingua franca. I agree that we need to be very cautious about our conceptualizations and sensitive to the nuances, or sensibilities, of other cultures in areas where our language may mislead us. Living in Java taught me this, if nothing else. But this rather academic tract is very uncompromising.

22 comments 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

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