Books about languages

[surrey_sucks]

I love languages and linguistics (I've taken a couple of intro linguistics courses), and am currently reading The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker (it's been on my to read list for years). I'm really enjoying it, and was wondering if there are any books about languages, linguistics, words, or any related topic that you can recommend. I'm

Comments

[cretaceousrick]

Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler. It's very dense and sometimes dry, but Ostler is a terrific writer and I was fascinated by the material.

[surrey_sucks]

Thanks, sounds interesting! Although it's long! I'll definitely add it to my list of books to read.

[surrey_sucks]

Sounds interesting, thanks! Adding it to my ever growing list of books to read!

[thelinus]

A History of the English Language by David Crystal is really good! he has written several other books on both world languages and English, which are nice. also, i had to read an introductory book to linguistics for a university entrance exam, and i cannot remember any titles or names, but i remember psycholinguistics was very interesting.

[surrey_sucks]

Thanks for the recommendation! (And sorry for the late reply.)

[misslynn]

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue and The Last Lingua Franca. I found the first more interesting than the second, but if you're specifically interested in the topic you should enjoy both of them :)

(The Last Lingua Franca is also by Nicholas Ostler, btw.)

[surrey_sucks]

They sound interesting! Thanks!

[disquisite]

Try Michael Quinion's blog The World Wide Words, it's a good read and he is incredibly well-informed and very entertaining, so if you're looking for a softer option, that's your ticket.

[surrey_sucks]

Will check it out. Thanks!