In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way we find out about eyebrow flashes, whistling languages, how parents teach their children to speak, how politeness travels across languages and how the way we talk show not just how old we are but where we’re from and even who we want to be.

In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way, we find out about eyebrow flashes, whistling languages, how parents teach their children to speak, how politeness travels across languages and how the way we talk show not just how old we are but where we’re from and even who we want to be.

In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way, we find out about eyebrow flashes, whistling languages, how parents teach their children to speak, how politeness travels across languages and how the way we talk show not just how old we are but where we’re from and even who we want to be.

In this classic, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. .

In this classic, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. .

Get ready to be goose-gruggled and fluckgungled with disgusterous, rotsome and repulsant words (and much more). You can have fun with Roald Dahl's language and the brilliant Quentin Blake's illustrations while discovering how language works in this little hardback book. Inspired by the World's No 1 storyteller, this book will give you all you need to start learning how language works - make up your own words, have fun and be bold with words!

For decades, people have been studying Shakespeare's life and times and in recent years there has been a renewed surge of interest in aspects of his language. So how can we better understand Shakespeare? David Crystal provides a lively and original introduction to Shakespeare's language, making his plays easily accessible to modern-day audiences. Covering the five main dimensions of language structure - writing system, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and conversational style - this book demonstrates how examining these linguistic 'nuts and bolts' can help us achieve a greater appreciation of Shakespeare's linguistic creativity. Explains clearly the terms required to understand Shakespeare's language, assuming no prior specialist knowledge Includes many examples from Shakespeare's plays and poems, providing essential context for the reader Contains a lively and original A-Z Appendix of Shakespeare's 'false friends' - words which seem familiar to us today, but in fact have a completely different meaning

David Crystal answers fifty questions about language usage, from general enquiries to specific points of grammar, pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, idiom, and style. In this compact, user-friendly book, David Crystal draws on his extensive knowledge and experience to answer questions from English language teachers and learners from around the world. The book covers topics ranging from general enquiries about the language as a whole to specific points of grammar, pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, idiom and style. The author's responses are illustrated by personal anecdotes, placed within historical and literary context and supported by research and corpus data to provide unique, authentic insights.

- A word's origin doesn't tell you what it means today - There are languages that change when your mother-in-law is present - The language you speak could make you more prone to accidents - There's a special part of the brain that produces swear words Taking us on a mind-boggling journey through the science of language, linguist David Shariatmadari uncovers the truth about what we do with words, exploding nine widely-held myths about language while introducing us to some of the fundamental insights of modern linguistics.

The definitive study of bilingualism from a leading neuropsychologist Over half of the world's population is bilingual and yet few of us understand how this extraordinary, complex ability really works. How do two languages co-exist in the same brain? What are the advantages and challenges of being bilingual? How do we learn - and forget - a language? In the first study of its kind, leading expert Albert Costa shares twenty years of experience to explore the science of language. Looking at studies and examples from Canada to France to South Korea, The Bilingual Brain investigates the significant impact of bilingualism on daily life from infancy to old age. It reveals, among other things, how babies differentiate between two languages just hours after birth, how accent affects the way in which we perceive others and even why bilinguals are better at conflict resolution. Drawing on cutting-edge neuro-linguistic research from his own laboratory in Barcelona as well from centres across the world, and his own bilingual family, Costa offers an absorbing examination of the intricacies and impact of an extraordinary skill. Highly engaging and hugely informative, The Bilingual Brain leaves us all with a sense of wonder at how language works.

Master Greek script with this straightforward guide from Teach Yourself - the No. 1 brand in language learning. Read and write Greek script is a clear step-by-step guide to the written language, with plenty of examples from real-life texts to show how it works in context and lots of exercises to reinforce your learning. This new edition has an easy-to-read page design.

Is That a Fish in Your Ear? by David Bellos asks: how do we really make ourselves understood to other people? This funny, wise and life-affirming language book shows how, from puns to poetry, news bulletins to the Bible, Asterix to Swedish films, translation is at the heart of everything we do - and makes us who we are.

Master Greek script with this straightforward guide from Teach Yourself - the No. 1 brand in language learning. Read and write Greek script is a clear step-by-step guide to the written language, with plenty of examples from real-life texts to show how it works in context and lots of exercises to reinforce your learning. This new edition has an easy-to-read page design.

Master Greek script with this straightforward guide from Teach Yourself - the No. 1 brand in language learning. Read and write Greek script is a clear step-by-step guide to the written language, with plenty of examples from real-life texts to show how it works in context and lots of exercises to reinforce your learning. This new edition has an easy-to-read page design.

The definitive study of bilingualism and the human brain from a leading neuropsychologist Over half of the world's population is bilingual and yet few of us understand how this extraordinary, complex ability really works. How do two languages co-exist in the same brain? What are the advantages and challenges of being bilingual? How do we learn - and forget - a language? In the first study of its kind, leading expert Albert Costa shares twenty years of experience to explore the science of language. Looking at studies and examples from Canada to France to South Korea, The Bilingual Brain investigates the significant impact of bilingualism on daily life from infancy to old age. It reveals, among other things, how babies differentiate between two languages just hours after birth, how accent affects the way in which we perceive others and even why bilinguals are better at conflict resolution. Drawing on cutting-edge neuro-linguistic research from his own laboratory in Barcelona as well from centres across the world, and his own bilingual family, Costa offers an absorbing examination of the intricacies and impact of an extraordinary skill. Highly engaging and hugely informative,The Bilingual Brain leaves us all with a sense of wonder at how language works. Translated by John W. Schwieter

The definitive study of bilingualism and the human brain from a leading neuropsychologist Over half of the world's population is bilingual and yet few of us understand how this extraordinary, complex ability really works. How do two languages co-exist in the same brain? What are the advantages and challenges of being bilingual? How do we learn - and forget - a language? In the first study of its kind, leading expert Albert Costa shares twenty years of experience to explore the science of language. Looking at studies and examples from Canada to France to South Korea, The Bilingual Brain investigates the significant impact of bilingualism on daily life from infancy to old age. It reveals, among other things, how babies differentiate between two languages just hours after birth, how accent affects the way in which we perceive others and even why bilinguals are better at conflict resolution. Drawing on cutting-edge neuro-linguistic research from his own laboratory in Barcelona as well from centres across the world, and his own bilingual family, Costa offers an absorbing examination of the intricacies and impact of an extraordinary skill. Highly engaging and hugely informative,The Bilingual Brain leaves us all with a sense of wonder at how language works. Translated by John W. Schwieter