<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Arabic-L: Fri 21 Dec 2007</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <<a href="mailto:dilworth_parkinson@byu.edu">dilworth_parkinson@byu.edu</a>></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">[To post messages to the list, send them to <a href="mailto:arabic-l@byu.edu">arabic-l@byu.edu</a>]</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">[To unsubscribe, send message from same address you subscribed from to</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:listserv@byu.edu">listserv@byu.edu</a> with first line reading:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> unsubscribe arabic-l ]</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">-------------------------Directory------------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1) Subject:New Book</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Date: 21 Dec 2007</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">From:reposted from LINGUIST</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Subject:New Book</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br>Title: Language Interrupted <br>Subtitle: Signs of Non-Native Acquistion in Standard Grammars <br>Publication Year: 2007 <br>Publisher: Oxford University Press<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span> <a href="http://www.oup.com/us">http://www.oup.com/us</a><br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span><br>Author: John McWhorter<br><br>Hardback: ISBN: 9780195309805 Pages: 304 Price: U.S. $ 74.00<br><br><br>Abstract:<br><br>Foreigners often say that English language is "easy." A language like<br>Spanish is challenging in its variety of verb endings (the verb "speak" is<br>conjugated "hablo, hablas, hablamos"), and gender for nouns, whereas<br>English is more straight forward (I speak, you speak, we speak). But<br>linguists generally swat down claims that certain languages are "easier"<br>than others, since it is assumed all languages are complex to the same<br>degree. For example, they will point to English's use of the word "do" --<br>"Do you know French?" This usage is counter-intuitive and difficult for<br>non-native speakers. Linguist John McWhorter agrees that all languages<br>are complex, but questions whether or not they are all equally complex. The<br>topic of complexity has become a hot issue in recent years, particularly in<br>creole studies, historical linguistics, and language contact. <br><br>As McWhorter describes, when languages came into contact over the years<br>(when French speakers ruled the English for a few centuries, or the vikings<br>invaded England), a large number of speakers are forced to learn a new<br>language quickly, and this came up with a simplified version, a pidgin.<br>When this ultimately turns into a "real" language, a creole, the result is<br>still<br>simpler and less complex than a "non-interrupted" language that has been<br>around for a long time. McWhorter makes the case that this kind of<br>simplification happens in degrees, and criticizes linguists who are<br>reluctant to say that, for example, English is simply simpler than Spanish<br>for socio-historical reasons. He analyzes how various languages that seem<br>simple but are not creoles, actually are simpler than they would be if they<br>had not been broken down by large numbers of adult learners. In addition to<br>English, he looks at Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Malay, and some Arabic<br>varieties. His work will interest not just experts in creole<br>studies and historical linguistics, but the wider community interested in<br>language complexity. <br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">--------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">End of Arabic-L: 21 Dec 2007</div></body></html>