Description
An accessible and wide-ranging introduction to the origins and evolution of human language, first published in 2000.
Reviews
'We must be grateful to Jean Aitchison for so very readably assembling a good deal of recent work that might seem to hint at how language began ... liberally peppered with fetching quotations from all manner of sources, ranging from the cartoon character Charlie Brown through Lewis Carroll to Jonathan Swift's satirical novel Gulliver's Travels ... the author goes out of her way to offer a restful read to all comers.' The Times
'... communicate[s] often quite complex ideas about language in a straightforward, intelligible, and often witty way ... can be recommended to anyone with a curiosity about their language, where it came from, and how it reached its present state.' Child Language Teaching and Therapy
'She [Aitchison] carries her learning lightly and writes in a most comprehensible and often amusing way ... I wished I had been able to ask the many questions that the book raised in my mind but that is an indication of Professor Aitchison's ability to make the reader think.' The Expository Times
Book Information
ISBN 9780521785716
Author Jean Aitchison
Format Paperback
Page Count 296
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 410g
Dimensions(mm) 213mm * 137mm * 15mm