When you study the philosophy of language, you study the languages of logic, mathematics, and science, and not just English, French, and German. If you're reading this sentence, for example, there's a good chance that you speak and understand English perfectly well. After all, who says that there is one "correct" version of English? We all need to write grammatically airtight cover letters every once in a while. Like? Check it out if you want to know which syntactic quirks come from ancient druids, which from French monarchs, and which from cutthroat viking invaders. There are lots to know and with a competitive job market in that space, keeping up with new trends, languages and tactics is very important. Language is a funny thing. Every week since 2006, I have been pouring tremendous time, thought, love, and resources into Brain Pickings, which remains free (and ad-free) and is made possible by patronage. Swears, curses, cusses, and slurs have always been a part of the English language. Bill Bryson is like your fun uncle and/or the English teacher who brings in donuts on the last day of class. Among his choices are Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Edward Sapir, Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behaviour by Kenneth Pike and Making it Explicit: Reasoning, Representing & Discursive Commitment by Robert Brandom. Some of these books delve into the history of English and how it got that way (did you know, for instance, that the word "spit" is roughly 15,000 years old, but the word "orange" is only about 450?). And on a semi-aside, @hangingnoodles is a must-follow on Twitter, a treasure trove of interestingness at the intersection of science and culture. Erin Moore looks at the awkward, hilarious differences between the two dialects, and what they say about our two cultures. February 4, 2020 February 4, 2020. He chooses five of the best books on linguistics. If you find any joy and solace in this labor of love, please consider becoming a Sustaining Patron with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good lunch. The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature reverse-engineers our relationship with language, exploring what the words we use reveal about the way we think. Are there words that cannot be translated? Last year, author Lawrence Dorfman released a worthy sequel: The Snark Handbook: Insult Edition: Comebacks, Taunts, and Effronteries — a linguistic arsenal full of strategic instructions on how and when to throw the jabs of well-timed snark alongside a well-curated collection of history’s most skilled literary insult-maestros. Languages change. He argues that all language has a basis in culture, and explains how Chomsky is like Freud: crucial, but crucially wrong. And in China, gagung literally means “bare sticks” but signifies the growing population of men who will will remain unmarried because China’s one-child policy and unabashed preference for male progeny has reduced the proportion of women.). There are hundreds of titles here in all sorts of interesting genres and they're completely free. As Norris puts it, "The dictionary is a wonderful thing, but you can't let it push you around.". Brain Pickings participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to Amazon. Dictionary writer and editor Kory Stamper is here to illuminate the secret life of dictionaries, from defining words to changing definitions to deciding what, exactly counts as a word in the first place. Privacy policy. Words on Words: Five Timelessly Stimulating Books About Language, Singularity: Marie Howe’s Ode to Stephen Hawking, Our Cosmic Belonging, and the Meaning of Home, in a Stunning Animated Short Film, The Cosmic Miracle of Trees: Astronaut Leland Melvin Reads Pablo Neruda’s Love Letter to Earth’s Forests, How Kepler Invented Science Fiction and Defended His Mother in a Witchcraft Trial While Revolutionizing Our Understanding of the Universe, 13 Life-Learnings from 13 Years of Brain Pickings, Emily Dickinson’s Electric Love Letters to Susan Gilbert, Rebecca Solnit’s Lovely Letter to Children About How Books Solace, Empower, and Transform Us, Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives, In Praise of the Telescopic Perspective: A Reflection on Living Through Turbulent Times, A Stoic’s Key to Peace of Mind: Seneca on the Antidote to Anxiety, The Courage to Be Yourself: E.E.

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