Language Myths

(Paperback)

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Description

The field of language is one which abounds with folk myths, misconceptions about the way in which language works or is used. This book tackles these folk beliefs head on in a series of entertaining and informative chapters in which a variety of linguists look at and correct a catalogue of errors, such as: aborigines speak a primitive language; French people speak faster; German is ugly; Italian is beautiful; English spelling is stupid; and so on.

Author Bio

Peter Trudgill and Laurie Bauer are both respected linguists. Trudgill has written many books for Penguin (including Sociolinguistics which has sold 130,000 copies since it was first published in 1974). Other contributors include Jean Aitchison (Professor of Language at Oxford), Lars Gunnar-Andersson (co-author of Bad Language with Trudgill) and Janet Holmes (Women, Men and Politeness, 1995, Longman). Peter Trudgill lives in Lausanne (and sometimes Norwich.) Laurie Bauer lives in New Zealand.