18.3801, Books: Sociolinguistics/Typology: McWhorter

Wed Dec 19 14:56:40 UTC 2007

LINGUIST List: Vol-18-3801. Wed Dec 19 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 18.3801, Books: Sociolinguistics/Typology: McWhorter

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Randall Eggert, U of Utah  
         <reviews at linguistlist.org> 

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, 
and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales <hannah at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers
are available at the end of this issue. 

===========================Directory==============================  

1)
Date: 17-Dec-2007
From: Elyse Turr < elyse.turr at oup.com >
Subject: Language Interrupted: McWhorter

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:49:51
From: Elyse Turr [elyse.turr at oup.com]
Subject: Language Interrupted: McWhorter
E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=18-3801.html&submissionid=164341&topicid=2&msgnumber=1  

Title: Language Interrupted 
Subtitle: Signs of Non-Native Acquistion in Standard Grammars 
Publication Year: 2007 
Publisher: Oxford University Press
	   http://www.oup.com/us

Author: John McWhorter

Hardback: ISBN:  9780195309805 Pages: 304 Price: U.S. $ 74.00

Abstract:

Foreigners often say that English language is "easy." A language like
Spanish is challenging in its variety of verb endings (the verb "speak" is
conjugated "hablo, hablas, hablamos"), and gender for nouns, whereas
English is more straight forward (I speak, you speak, we speak).  But
linguists generally swat down claims that certain languages are "easier"
than others, since it is assumed all languages are complex to the same
degree. For example, they will point to English's use of the word "do" --
"Do you know French?" This usage is counter-intuitive and difficult for
non-native speakers. Linguist John McWhorter agrees that all languages
are complex, but questions whether or not they are all equally complex. The
topic of complexity has become a hot issue in recent years, particularly in
creole studies, historical linguistics, and language contact. 

As McWhorter describes, when languages came into contact over the years
(when French speakers ruled the English for a few centuries, or the vikings
invaded England), a large number of speakers are forced to learn a new
language quickly, and this came up with a simplified version, a pidgin.
When this ultimately turns into a "real" language, a creole, the result is
still
simpler and less complex than a "non-interrupted" language that has been
around for a long time. McWhorter makes the case that this kind of
simplification happens in degrees, and criticizes linguists who are
reluctant to say that, for example, English is simply simpler than Spanish
for socio-historical reasons. He analyzes how various languages that seem
simple but are not creoles, actually are simpler than they would be if they
had not been broken down by large numbers of adult learners. In addition to
English, he looks at Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Malay, and some Arabic
varieties. His work will interest not just experts in creole
studies and historical linguistics, but the wider community interested in
language complexity. 

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics
                     Typology

Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=33079

MAJOR SUPPORTERS

	Brill          
		http://www.brill.nl	

	Cambridge University Press          
		http://us.cambridge.org	

	Cascadilla Press          
		http://www.cascadilla.com/	

	Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd          
		http://www.continuumbooks.com	

	Edinburgh University Press          
		http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/	

	Elsevier Ltd          
		http://www.elsevier.com/linguistics	

	Equinox Publishing Ltd          
		http://www.equinoxpub.com/	

	European Language Resources Association - ELRA          
		http://www.elra.info.	

	Georgetown University Press          
		http://www.press.georgetown.edu	

	Hodder Arnold          
		http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk	

	John Benjamins          
		http://www.benjamins.com/	

	Lincom GmbH          
		http://www.lincom.eu	

	MIT Press          
		http://mitpress.mit.edu/	

	Mouton de Gruyter          
		http://www.mouton-publishers.com	

	Multilingual Matters          
		http://www.multilingual-matters.com/	

	Oxford University Press          
		http://www.oup.com/us	

	Pagijong Press          
		http://pjbook.com	

	Palgrave Macmillan          
		http://www.palgrave.com	

	Peter Lang AG          
		http://www.peterlang.com	

	Rodopi          
		http://www.rodopi.nl/	

	Routledge (Taylor and Francis)          
		http://www.routledge.com/	

	Springer          
		http://www.springer.com	

	Wiley-Blackwell          
		http://www.blackwellpublishing.com	

OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS	

	Anthropological Linguistics
		http://www.indiana.edu/~anthling/ 

	CSLI Publications
		http://cslipublications.stanford.edu/ 

	International Pragmatics Assoc.
		http://www.ipra.be 

	Kingston Press Ltd
		http://www.kingstonpress.com/ 

	Linguistic Association of Finland
		http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/ 

	Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke - LOT
		http://www.lotpublications.nl/ 

	Pacific Linguistics
		http://pacling.anu.edu.au/ 

	SIL International
		http://www.ethnologue.com/bookstore.asp 

	St. Jerome Publishing Ltd
		http://www.stjerome.co.uk 

-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-18-3801	