LINGUIST List 14.1215

Tue Apr 29 2003

Books: Lang Acquisition, Socioling: Napoli

Editor for this issue: Marisa Ferrara <marisalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. bartonm, Language Matters: Napoli

Title: Language Matters
Subtitle: A Guide to Everyday Questions About Language
			
Publication Year: 2003
Publisher: Oxford University Press
 http://www.oup-usa.org/, http://www.oup.co.uk
			
Book URL: http://www.oup-usa.org/isbn/0195160487.html
Availability: Available
 
Author: Donna Jo Napoli, Swarthmore College 

Hardback: ISBN: 0195155289, Pages: 240 pp, Price: $55.00
Paperback: ISBN: 0195160487, Pages: 240 pp, Price: $16.95

Abstract:
			
Is Ebonics a dialect or simply bad English? Do Eskimos really have
different words for snow? Should the US be an English-only nation? Do
women and men speak differently? Will computers ever truly learn human
language? Virtually everyone feels they have a strong grip on most of
these questions, but as Donna Jo Napoli points out in this short,
accessible book, a lot of commonly-held conceptions about language are
simply wrong.

Napoli provides an entertaining tour through the world of language,
examining these and other vexing and controversial language-related
questions. Throughout, she encourages and leads the reader to use
common-sense and everyday experience rather than preconceived notions
or technical linguistic expertise. Both her questions and her
conclusions are surprising, sometimes provocative, and always
entertaining. This volume is sure to engage both general readers and
students of language and linguistics at any level.
			
Lingfield(s): Language Acquisition
		Sociolinguistics
	
Written In: English (Language Code: English)

 See this book announcement on our website:
	 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=5818