Book description
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.
David Crystal is Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of
Wales, Bangor. He has published over ninety books, most recently
The Stories of English
, and is the editor of The Penguin Encyclopaedia
. In 1995, he was awarded the OBE for services to the English language.
He lives in Holyhead, Anglesey.
