Language Unlimited

Captivating. Adger makes the simple but profound observation that language is more than communication. * Kevin Berger, Nautilus * A highly readable introduction to some of the big questions in linguistics. I'd recommend this lucid and engaging book to both the amateur language enthusiast and the beginning linguistics student. Adger writes with true depth of understanding and generosity towards the broader field of linguistics. * Gretchen McCulloch, co-host of the Lingthusiasm podcast and author of Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language * A delightful journey through the many fascinating aspects of language, its nature and use, its richness and variety and its deep commonalities, beginning with the simplest observations and reaching to the borders of inquiry, interleaved with striking illustrations from a wide variety of languages and illuminating the way with results from experimental, animal, and computational research. A wonderful experience. * Noam Chomsky * I wish there were more linguistics professors bringing their A-game to a larger audience like this. * Superlinguo * [I]n my opinion the best attempt ever made to explain the linguistic framework within which Adger works - that of Noam Chomsky. The book is very readable without ever being childish, light in tone without being annoyingly funny, and clear about the author's point of view without being polemical. * Marc Van Oostendorp, Neerlandistiek * [Adger's] tour of Chomskyan linguistics is entertaining and accessible - in contrast to Chomsky's own notoriously baffling prose. The book is a handy introduction to a vexed debate on the infinite power of the finite mortal mind. * The Economist *