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Loading... Biting the Wax Tadpole: Confessions of a Language Fanaticby Elizabeth Little
 vpfluke | Jun 9, 2012 |  What a lovely book that I don't remember anything about! First off, Elizabeth Little knows her language. She also knows that language grammar isn't always the easiest, or most entertaining of subjects. She manages to describe all sorts of different languages and how they are classified while keeping things short, to the point, and entertaining. I don't remember a single thing about the different types of verbs, adverbs, prepositions or nouns, but I do know that there are languages that only have two colors, black or white. Or that Sanskrit is a dead language, but a village in India is bringing it back! There are a few problems with this book, namely the chick lit type attitude was at times a bit grating. Also, the book needs an index, and a list of sources. Other than that, Its a great book, not exactly a primer on language, but gives enough so that a person who knows nothing about language, comes away knowing just enough to get in trouble :) (  )1  TheDivineOomba | Sep 10, 2010 | If you're interested enough in language to read this book, you're probably already familiar with a lot of the material. If you're not already interested in language, this book probably contains too much grammar for you. (  )1 atiara | Apr 17, 2010 | Little's exploration of the immense world of language is an interesting and intriguing read. Yes, she assumes some knowledge of grammar from her readers, but even if you don't have that knowledge, there is still insight to be gained. There are tidbits of uniqueness for nearly all the major languages, and plenty of the minor ones, too. This expansive topic is dealt with in an organized, but not a text-book, manner, which I greatly appreciated. I love words and communication, though I am far from a language fanatic. Still, I loved this book for giving me snippets of languages that might lead me to further exploration and some that might lead me as far away from the language as possible. (For example, as an accountant, I probably would not do well with the language Piraha, which has words for numbers only to the extent of "small size or amount" and "slightly larger size or amount.") This is an easy read, and one that can be flipped through in order to find a bit of trivia, or read in detail to get a better feel for just what language means to each of the cultures in our world. ( )1 HippieLunatic | Feb 21, 2009 | I enjoyed this book's humor; it doesn't take itself seriously. The author, rather than being uptight, revels in the joys of language and grammar. Unfortunately, for those of us like me, who can't keep tenses and parts of speech and their uses separate, she doesn't spend a lot of time explaining them. That's my only major gripe -- and perhaps it's one with my brain rather than this book. ( )1 juliayoung | Oct 22, 2008 | no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
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Wikipedia in English
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l. Acquiring second and third anguages.
2. How some languages differentiate between two types of we:
a. We two and not you
b. I and you
3. Pitch accents and tonal languages.
4. Agglutination
5. Gender and sex in languages.
And so forth -- a very delightful read. (