Little Book of Language

Withalanguagedisappearingeverytwoweeksandneologismsspringingupalmostdaily，anunderstandingoftheoriginsandcurrencyoflanguagehasneverseemedmorerelevant.Inthischarmingvolume，anarrativehistorywrittenexplicitlyforayoungaudience，expertlinguistDavidCrystalproveswhythestoryoflanguagedeservesretelling.Fromthefirstwordsofaninfanttothepeculiarmoderndialectoftextmessaging，ALittleBookofLanguagerangeswidely，revealinglanguage'smyriadintricaciesandquirks.Inanimatedfashion，Crystalshedslightonthedevelopmentofuniquelinguisticstyles，theoriginsofobscureaccents，andthesearchforthefirstwrittenword.Hediscussestheplightofendangeredlanguages，aswellassuccessfulcasesoflinguisticrevitalization.Muchmorethanahistory，Crystal'sworklooksforwardtothefutureoflanguage，exploringtheeffectoftechnologyonourday-to-dayreading，writing，andspeech.Throughenlighteningtables，diagrams，andquizzes，aswellasCrystal'savuncularandentertainingstyle，ALittleBookofLanguagewillrevealthestoryoflanguagetobeacaptivatingtaleforallages.