{"product_id":"what-language-is-and-what-it-isnt-and-what-it-could-be-9781592407200","title":"What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be","description":"\u003cb\u003eA love letter to languages, celebrating their curiosities and smashing assumptions about correct grammar \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn eye-opening tour for all language lovers, \u003ci\u003eWhat Language Is \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a fascinating new perspective on the way humans communicate. from vanishing languages spoken by a few hundred people to major tongues like Chinese, and with copious revelations about the hodgepodge nature of English, John McWhorter shows readers how to see and hear languages as a linguist does.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePacked with big ideas about language alongside wonderful trivia, \u003ci\u003eWhat Language Is \u003c\/i\u003eexplains how languages across the globe (the Queen's English and Suriname creoles alike) originate, evolve, multiply, and divide. Raising provocative questions about what qualifies as a language (so-called slang does have structured grammar), McWhorter takes readers on a marvelous journey through time and place--from Persia to the languages of Sri Lanka--to deliver a feast of facts about the wonders of human linguistic expression.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn McWhorter is the author of the bestseller \u003ci\u003eLosing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language\u003c\/i\u003e, and four other books. He is associate professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a contributing editor to \u003ci\u003eThe City Journal\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e. He has been profiled in the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e, and has appeared on \u003ci\u003eDateline NBC\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePolitically Incorrect\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe NewsHour with Jim Lehrer\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50492956344594,"sku":"9781592407200","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5178b71b-d99e-40a4-929d-6cec92f7d8d3.jpg?v=1730617312","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/what-language-is-and-what-it-isnt-and-what-it-could-be-9781592407200","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}