Seeking gripping reads on language and language careers
Prentiss Riddle
foreign languages (French, Spanish and Latin so far). She's looking
at colleges (probably bound for UT Austin, not a bad choice for
language study, but also dreaming about scholarship to a big ivy
league school in the sky) and considering majors that would let her
focus on a language or ten.
Does anyone have any advice for a budding applied linguist? Are there
any sources which suggest what language or languages might be in high
demand 6+ years out? Any synergistic skills or double majors you'd
suggest picking up which would give one a shot at the big bucks but
still let one make full use of those language skills? I've urged her
to travel on other people's dime as early and often as possible (i.e.,
apply for every study abroad scholarship she can squeeze into her
schedule). Any other skill- and career-building tips you can think of?
Secondarily, I'm also looking for a couple of good, fun, readable books
on language and languages to give her for her birthday. I've already
bought a copy of Pinker's The Language Instinct for the Chomsky/cogsci
angle, but Pinker disdains historical, literary and cultural detail.
(I've never understood that -- to me that's like an ornithologist
being so focused on migratory behavior and neuroanatomy as to profess
an active dislike of birdsongs and colorful plumage.) I'm looking
for color commentary, like the delightful but now hopelessly outdated
books by Mario Pei I devoured when I was her age.
P.S. Tongue-in-cheek answers welcome (e.g., "Pashto and small
arms skills will be in demand for the foreseeable future") but as
a protective uncle I'm more likely to pass on the serious ones.
And online resources would interest me but probably not her as she's
in a luddite phase at the moment. :-)
Thanks!
Links and discussion at:
http://www.io.com/~riddle/language/?item=20020815
-- Prentiss Riddle ("aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada") rid...@io.com
-- You are in a maze of twisty little weblogs. http://www.io.com/~riddle/
John Smith
>
> My 16-going-on-17-year-old niece is having a high school romance with
> foreign languages (French, Spanish and Latin so far). She's looking
> at colleges (probably bound for UT Austin, not a bad choice for
> Are there
> any sources which suggest what language or languages might be in high
How is Arabic for a guess? It's very hard, and weird as all heck.
(Masculine count-nouns take feminine numerals, and vice-versa; plural
masculine inanimate nouns are treated as feminine singular, etc.). It's
official in a score of different countries, and has a long, rich,
accessible history. She might love it.
UT Austin has a strong Arabic department with a very good reputation.
Also, the Arabic world is divided into numerous dialect areas -- people
from Tunisia can't understand the everyday speech of people from Yemen,
for example. It's not just pronunciation and lexicon. The GRAMMAR is
different. Some of these dialects are well documented, and others only
very poorly. She could spend a whole career learning additional dialects
(which are essentially different languages), and, the world situation
being the way it is, she could probably make a good living at it.
Possibly a VERY good living.
\\P. Schultz
Mark Rosenfelder
Prentiss Riddle <rid...@hagbard.io.com> wrote:
>Secondarily, I'm also looking for a couple of good, fun, readable books
>on language and languages to give her for her birthday. I've already
>bought a copy of Pinker's The Language Instinct for the Chomsky/cogsci
>angle, but Pinker disdains historical, literary and cultural detail.
I'd recommend David Crystal's _The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Linguistics_,
which is easy enough and lavishly illustrated enough for browsing, but
also solid as a reference (or as a blunt instrument).
Peter T. Daniels
Gack!! Mark makes a mistake!!!
--
Peter T. Daniels gram...@att.net
Peter T. Daniels
> Secondarily, I'm also looking for a couple of good, fun, readable books
> on language and languages to give her for her birthday. I've already
> bought a copy of Pinker's The Language Instinct for the Chomsky/cogsci
> angle, but Pinker disdains historical, literary and cultural detail.
> (I've never understood that -- to me that's like an ornithologist
> being so focused on migratory behavior and neuroanatomy as to profess
> an active dislike of birdsongs and colorful plumage.) I'm looking
> for color commentary, like the delightful but now hopelessly outdated
> books by Mario Pei I devoured when I was her age.
Ron Macaulay, The Social Art (Oxford)
David Crystal, Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
Andrew Dalby, Dictionary of Languages (Columbia)
college-textbook level, but really an excellent way to get into
Indo-European, especially since she's already got Latin, French, and
Spanish:
Philip Baldi, Foundations of Latin (Mouton de Gruyter, just announced in
paperback)
Mark Rosenfelder
Peter T. Daniels <gram...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>Mark Rosenfelder wrote:
>> Prentiss Riddle <rid...@hagbard.io.com> wrote:
>> >Secondarily, I'm also looking for a couple of good, fun, readable books
>> >on language and languages to give her for her birthday. I've already
>> >bought a copy of Pinker's The Language Instinct for the Chomsky/cogsci
>> >angle, but Pinker disdains historical, literary and cultural detail.
>>
>> I'd recommend David Crystal's _The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Linguistics_,
>> which is easy enough and lavishly illustrated enough for browsing, but
>> also solid as a reference (or as a blunt instrument).
>
>Gack!! Mark makes a mistake!!!
Whoops, make that _...of Language_. Should've posted at home, where the
damn thing is on the bookshelf.
AnotherLanguage
"Prentiss Riddle" <rid...@hagbard.io.com> wrote in message
news:RXV69.159141$6Z1.7...@bin6.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com...
Joseph W. Murphy
>www.anotherlanguage.com/learn.htm
>
>
>"Prentiss Riddle" <rid...@hagbard.io.com> wrote in message
>news:RXV69.159141$6Z1.7...@bin6.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com...
>>
>
>> Secondarily, I'm also looking for a couple of good, fun, readable books
>> on language and languages to give her for her birthday. I've already
>> bought a copy of Pinker's The Language Instinct for the Chomsky/cogsci
>> angle, but Pinker disdains historical, literary and cultural detail.
>> (I've never understood that -- to me that's like an ornithologist
>> being so focused on migratory behavior and neuroanatomy as to profess
>> an active dislike of birdsongs and colorful plumage.) I'm looking
>> for color commentary, like the delightful but now hopelessly outdated
>> books by Mario Pei I devoured when I was her age.
>>
>> P.S. Tongue-in-cheek answers welcome (e.g., "Pashto and small
>> arms skills will be in demand for the foreseeable future") but as
>> a protective uncle I'm more likely to pass on the serious ones.
>> And online resources would interest me but probably not her as she's
>> in a luddite phase at the moment. :-)
>>
>>
Well, to quote Peter from an earlier pointed directive to me:
"Sapir's 'Language - an Introduction to the Study of Speech' retains
its value". (It's available in paperback).
A couple of interesting recent reads are "The Atoms of Language"
(Chomsky's principles and parameters theory for the layman. It's
worth a look even if you don't buy into this.) I think the author was
a guy named Baker). Very readable.
Dixon's "The Rise and Fall of Languages" is good too. Touches on a
lot of interesting themes. (paperback too!--Cheap!)
Mikael Thompson turned me on to Whaley's "Introduction to Typology"
(another paperback!) which was really great for someone like me who
knew zip about the subject. It's very clear and full of interesting
examples giving a flavor for the variety that's out there in the
world's languages. I loved it. Your daughter might like it too. She
sounds precocious.
I'd also definitely second Mark Rosenfelder's recommendation with
Crystal's Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. It's excellent.
Finally, Dixon's did another book, maybe less well-known, called
"Searching for Aboriginal Languages". Very breezy and anecdotal, but
it gives a layman a real flavor for what linguistic fieldwork's all
about.
Hope that helps.
Joe Murphy
Boy Linguist