You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity by Robert Lane Greene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was yet another drive-by pickup in the library, so I’m not surprised that it was a little different than what I expected. Greene starts with what I thought would be the meat of the matter – a discussion of prescriptivist vs. descriptivist linguistics (which is a battle I’ve been having with my father for the entirety of my life). He quickly moves on, however, into the socio-political ramifications of language and language policy. In another life I had plans to become a socio-linguistic antropologist so you can imaging my delight at this! Unlike other reviewers, I appreciated his application of linguistic science to his descriptions, but I can see where all the talk of suffix, prefix and phoneme might have gotten a little boring for the uninitiated. As a “Spanish” speaker, I enjoyed his discussions on the sociological and political development of the language in the old and new world. My undergraduate degree was in Mandarin Chinese and I spent a year studying abroad in Hong Kong so I was already familiar with some of the linguistic challenges facing China, and while he did shed some light on things I had not considered before, I wish he had spent more time discussing Chinese and Asian Languages in general. Maybe in a sequel? I would sure pick it up. Either way this is a book worth reading if you’re interested in language, politics, or culture.
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