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Book Review 8/17/2007 Tony Lawrence
The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher
Words and language have always interested me. I remember reading Holt's "Phrase and Word Origins" when it was first published and being fascinated by it. I'd scour our thickest dictionaries looking for more hints as to how we came to use certain words as we do and delight in my new finds. That certain words have "flip-flopped", gone from their original meaning to entirely the opposite, particularly enthralled me, and it has been interesting watching the beginnings of such flips in my own lifetime.
In my adult years, I have read other books on language and words. You'd think that anyone writing such works would have a great command of language themselves; that your reading experience would be a giddy ride upon sentences and paragraphs that would tease and delight.. well, if you think that, I can tell you to prepare yourself for general disappointment. Most literature of a serious nature that concerns itself with language is as dry as toast and as boring as a goldfish.
But not this author. Guy Deutscher not only has knowledge of words and language, but deploys sentences that make you grin for joy while imparting complex and quite captivating information. This book is a joy to read, not just for its content (which is very interesting and informative), but for the way he spins his tales.
He advances a theory of language that makes perfect sense. As he led me along to his conclusions, I found myself nodding and mentally agreeing "Yes, yes, I see that!" If you care about words, if in your own writing you often pause to search for the word with exactly the right nuance for the thought you wish to convey, you'll love this book. If words and language themselves fascinate you, if you love a good scientific detective story, you'll love it even more.
Send comments and new posts to tony@aplawrence.com
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