New Book: Limits of Language by Mikael Parkvall

[J. Clancy Clements]

The following review is written by Geoff Pullum. The full 
title of the book is:

Limits of Language: Almost Everything You Didn't Know 
About Language and Languages, by Mikael Parkvall (London 
and Ahungalla: Battlebridge)

Posted by Geoffrey K. Pullum on Language Log 
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/

“The book for your linguist lover
I have come upon a book that would be the ideal birthday 
present for the linguist in your life who you feel already 
has everything, even a copy of Far From the Madding 
Gerund. (By the way, if you don't have a linguist in your 
life, you should definitely consider it. When a linguist 
kisses you, you stay kissed.) The book in question is 
quite obscure at the moment. The publisher is 
Battlebridge, located in London and Ahungalla. (Really, 
Ahungalla. It's in Sri Lanka.) As yet, it is only 
available via Amazon in the UK and Japan, so have some 
pounds sterling or yen ready), and your linguist lover 
will not know about it yet. It is called Limits of 
Language: Almost Everything You Didn't Know You Didn't 
Know About Language and Languages, and it's by Mikael 
Parkvall. The ISBN for the paperback that I have appears 
to be 9 781903 292044 but the ISBN cited by Amazon.co.uk 
is 1 903292 04 2 (and they're charging just £15, so it 
surely can't be a hardback; I don't know why there would 
be two ISBNs). I can only describe the book as the 
realization of a fantasy idea I once had for a Linguist's 
Book of Lists (see chapter 22 of my book The Great Eskimo 
Vocabulary Hoax). It also has a touch of Guinness Book of 
World Linguistic Records about it. It is really cute, and 
absolutely stuffed with linguistic trivia and facts and 
dates and lists and ephemera and exotica (and a linguist 
joke or two among the fake endorsement quotes on the 
back). It's often funny, but also quite serious and 
useful. It will delight any member of our profession. Buy 
it, and check it out for yourself before you gift-wrap it 
for your linguist lover.”


Clancy Clements