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You are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws and the Power of Words

You are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws and the Power of Words

Robert Lane Greene

9781863955416

Black Inc


Language: reference & general; Language: history & general works; Sociolinguistics; Reference; Popular culture

Paperback

336 pages

$24.95  $22.45

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Why does language move some of us to anxiety or even rage? For centuries, sticklers have donned the cloak of authority to control how people use words. In this sensational new book, Robert Lane Greene strikes back to defend the fascinating, real-life diversity of this most basic human faculty. Along the way, he corrects Bill Bryson's 'facts' about words, challenges the rhetoric of Lynne Truss's bestselling Eats, Shoots & Leaves , and explains why speech is a lot like jazz. Travel with Greene on a rollicking world tour that shows the role language beliefs play in shaping our identities, for good and ill. From the Tower of Babel to Ataturk's banning of Arabic script, he charts how language 'experts' moved from myth-making to rule-making and from building cohesive communities to building modern nations. This enthralling book reveals that our arguments about language may relate to something else entirely, and illuminates the rewards of being flexible with our words. You Are What You Speak will certainly get people talking. 'An engaging new look at our language and the way people use it, filled with insight and informative tidbits.' STEVEN PINKER bestselling author of The Stuff of Thought and The Language Instinct

By:   Robert Lane Greene
Imprint:   Black Inc
Country of Publication:   Australia
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 198mm,  Spine: 129mm
ISBN:  

9781863955416


ISBN 10:   1863955410
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   October 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  ELT Advanced ,  Primary
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock at Abbey's Bookshop
This is in stock in our store and available now.


An engaging new look at our language and the way people use it, filled with insight and informative tidbits.' - Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought and The Language Instinct.

'An engaging new look at our language and the way people use it, filled with insight and informative tidbits.' - Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought and The Language Instinct.

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