With a language disappearing every two weeks and neologisms springing up almost daily, an understanding of the origins and currency of language has never seemed more relevant. In this charming volume, a narrative history written explicitly for a young audience, expert linguist David Crystal proves why the story of language deserves retelling. From the first words of an infant t...
With a language disappearing every two weeks and neologisms springing up almost daily, an understanding of the origins and currency of language has never seemed more relevant. In this charming volume, a narrative history written explicitly for a young audience, expert linguist David Crystal proves why the story of language deserves retelling. From the first words of an infant to text messaging, "A Little Book of Language" ranges widely, revealing language's myriad intricacies and quirks. In animated fashion, Crystal sheds light on the development of unique linguistic styles, the origins of obscure accents, and the search for the first written word. He discusses the plight of endangered languages, as well as successful cases of linguistic revitalization. Much more than a history, Crystal's guide looks forward to the future of language, exploring the effect of technology on our day-to-day reading, writing, and speech. Through enlightening tables, diagrams, and quizzes, as well as Crystal's avuncular and entertaining style, "A Little Book of Language" reveals the story of language to be a captivating tale for all ages.
You might be surprised by my answer to Question 3. You might
think: David Crystal has been studying the English language for
years and years. Why should he ever need to look anything up in a
dictionary? Surely he knows all there is to know about words?
I wish I did! But check back to the end of Chapter 3, when I
asked ‘How many words do we know?’ For me, the answer is around
100,000. (查看原文)
整本书基本不使用大词、难词、长句、难句，适合国内初三或高一学生读，对提高英语水平大有帮助，大人也可以读此书当作消遣。 写作风格风趣幽默，逻辑清晰，比此系列另外一本：A little history of philosophy要好得多，但在语言优美方面比：A little history of the world要差些。
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C14 The languages of the world. 1. The essential difference between a dialect or a language is that When people speak different languages, they don’t understand each other (A language is made up of many dialects, and the people who speak those dialects gen...
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大家好，我是超严肃的前线观察员小C，今天要给大家带来的情报大致上是关于这本戴维.克里斯特尔的《语言小书(A Little Book of Language)》的。 首先，插播一条广。。。哦不是，是温馨提示，那就是这本书的作者是一名英国人，所以是基于一名英语使用者的角度来讲语言的，书中绝...
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1 有用 Renee 2016-01-31 11:40:03
第一次读David Crystal的书是Language Death，后来才发现原来他写过几本语言的百科全书，他研究涉及的领域相当广，博学的人简直太有魅力。这本书是对语言的通识介绍，都是非常简单的道理，可以作为茶余饭后的阅读。虽然不是学术写作，但是说到底科研总结出的知识就应该是以最简单的语言惠及最广的受众的。
0 有用 何倩彤 2019-10-06 22:59:15
「1801年，探險家洪堡在南美洲尋找奧里諾科河的源頭。他碰到一群加勒比印地安人，他們剛攻擊了附近的部落，殺光所有人，但把鸚鵡帶回來了。鸚鵡就跟平常一樣喋喋不休。洪堡聽到鸚鵡在說話，發覺牠們說著屬於被謀害的印地安人的語言，他決定謄錄下來，記住那種語言的發音。說那種語言的人都死了，只剩下鸚鵡可以幫他。兩百年後，美國雕塑家Rachel Benwick決定讓這種語言重生。她找來兩隻南美洲的鸚鵡，把洪堡寫下... 「1801年，探險家洪堡在南美洲尋找奧里諾科河的源頭。他碰到一群加勒比印地安人，他們剛攻擊了附近的部落，殺光所有人，但把鸚鵡帶回來了。鸚鵡就跟平常一樣喋喋不休。洪堡聽到鸚鵡在說話，發覺牠們說著屬於被謀害的印地安人的語言，他決定謄錄下來，記住那種語言的發音。說那種語言的人都死了，只剩下鸚鵡可以幫他。兩百年後，美國雕塑家Rachel Benwick決定讓這種語言重生。她找來兩隻南美洲的鸚鵡，把洪堡寫下的詞教給牠們。然後她把鸚鵡放進大籠子裡用樹葉蓋住，再配上叢林的聲音，放在藝廊裡展示。鸚鵡很開心地說個沒完。突然間，古老的語言復活了。雖然只是鸚鵡學舌，聽的人仍覺得毛骨悚然。」 (展开)
0 有用 Lud_Snow 2024-01-24 02:55:34 丹麦
bought in Leiden, a good read
0 有用 渡渡Liz 2021-01-04 05:14:54
Language is the Mount Everest of subjects. 从语言的各个元素、孩童语言在每个阶段的发展、语言的历史、种类、时代特点到语言研究领域的一些课题，David Crystal 的文字简单风趣，读起来很愉快，也很有收获。
3 有用 Fay 2013-06-06 23:14:17
很可爱的一本书，毫无词汇压力，适合英语水平一般者轻松阅读。读完了，给五星。幽默有趣，而且信息量广博，风格平易，这么少的词汇表达这么深广的内容，佩服。