In the Land of Invented Languages
In the Land of Invented Languages

Author: Arika Okrent

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2009-05-19

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0385529716

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Here is the captivating story of humankind’s enduring quest to build a better language—and overcome the curse of Babel. Just about everyone has heard of Esperanto, which was nothing less than one man’s attempt to bring about world peace by means of linguistic solidarity. And every Star Trek fan knows about Klingon. But few people have heard of Babm, Blissymbolics, Loglan (not to be confused with Lojban), and the nearly nine hundred other invented languages that represent the hard work, high hopes, and full-blown delusions of so many misguided souls over the centuries. With intelligence and humor, Arika Okrent has written a truly original and enlightening book for all word freaks, grammar geeks, and plain old language lovers.

Talk on the Wild Side
Talk on the Wild Side

Author: Lane Greene

Publisher: The Economist

Published: 2018-11-06

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1610398343

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Language is the most human invention. Spontaneous, unruly, passionate, and erratic it resists every attempt to discipline or regularize it--a history celebrated here in all its irreverent glory. Language is a wild thing. It is vague and anarchic. Style, meaning, and usage are continually on the move. Throughout history, for every mutation, idiosyncrasy, and ubiquitous mistake, there have been countervailing rules, pronouncements and systems making some attempt to bring language to heel. From the utopian language-builder to the stereotypical grammatical stickler to the programmer trying to teach a computer to translate, Lane Greene takes the reader through a multi-disciplinary survey of the many different ways in which we attempt to control language, exploring the philosophies, motivations, and complications of each. The result is a highly readable caper that covers history, linguistics, politics, and grammar with the ease and humor of a dinner party anecdote. Talk on the Wild Side is both a guide to the great debates and controversies of usage, and a love letter to language itself. Holding it together is Greene's infectious enthusiasm for his subject. While you can walk away with the finer points of who says "whom" and the strange history of "buxom" schoolboys, most of all, it inspires awe in language itself: for its elegance, resourcefulness, and power.

Complete Esperanto
Complete Esperanto

Author: Tim Owen

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2019-01-10

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 1473669227

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Do you want to develop a solid understanding of Esperanto and communicate confidently with others? Through authentic conversations, vocabulary building, grammar explanations, and extensive practice and review, Complete Esperanto will equip you with the practical skills you need to use modern Esperanto in a variety of realistic settings and situations, developing your cultural awareness along the way. What will I achieve by the end of the course? By the end of Complete Esperanto you will have a solid intermediate-level grounding in the four key skills - reading, writing, speaking, and listening - and be able to communicate with confidence and accuracy. Is this course for me? If you want to move confidently from beginner to intermediate level, this is the course for you. It's perfect for the self-study learner, with a one-on-one tutor, or for the beginner classroom. It can also be used as a refresher course. What do I get? -18 learning units plus verbs reference and word glossary and revision section -Discovery Method - figure out rules and patterns to make the language stick -Teaches the key skills - reading, writing, listening, and speaking -Learn to learn - tips and skills on how to be a better language learner -Culture notes - learn about modern Esperanto culture -Outcome-based learning - focus your studies with clear aims -Authentic listening activities - everyday conversations give you a flavor of real spoken Esperanto -Test Yourself - see and track your own progress *Complete Esperanto maps from Novice Low to Advanced Low level proficiency of ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) and from A1 Beginner to B1/B2 Upper Intermediate level of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) guidelines. Please note not all devices support the audio/video component of enhanced ebooks. We recommend you download a sample to check compatibility with your device. Alternatively, you can find the audio for this course for free on our website https://library.teachyourself.com. You will be able to stream it online or download it to the Teach Yourself Library app. Rely on Teach Yourself, trusted by language learners for over 85 years.

Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin Chinese

Author: Charles N. Li

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1989-04-20

Total Pages: 722

ISBN-13: 9780520066106

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This reference grammar provides, for the first time, a description of the grammar of Mandarin Chinese, the official spoken language of China and Taiwan, in functional terms, focusing on the role and meanings of word-level and sentence-level structures in actual conversations.

Mindhacker
Mindhacker

Author: Ron Hale-Evans

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-08-10

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1118166434

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Compelling tips and tricks to improve your mental skills Don't you wish you were just a little smarter? Ron and Marty Hale-Evans can help with a vast array of witty, practical techniques that tune your brain to peak performance. Founded in current research, Mindhacker features 60 tips, tricks, and games to develop your mental potential. This accessible compilation helps improve memory, accelerate learning, manage time, spark creativity, hone math and logic skills, communicate better, think more clearly, and keep your mind strong and flexible.

Toki Pona
Toki Pona

Author: Sonja Lang

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 9780978292300

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"Toki Pona was my philosophical attempt to understand the meaning of life in 120 words....I first published my micro-language on the Web in 2001....In this book, I hope to present the language in its completed form."--From the preface.

The Babel Message
The Babel Message

Author: Keith Kahn-Harris

Publisher: Icon Books

Published: 2021-11-04

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1785787381

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'Quite simply, and quite ridiculously, one of the funniest and most illuminating books I have ever read. I thought I was obsessive, but Keith Kahn-Harris is playing a very different sport. He really has discovered the whole world in an egg.' Simon Garfield A thrilling journey deep into the heart of language, from a rather unexpected starting point. Keith Kahn-Harris is a man obsessed with something seemingly trivial - the warning message found inside Kinder Surprise eggs: WARNING, read and keep: Toy not suitable for children under 3 years. Small parts might be swallowed or inhaled. On a tiny sheet of paper, this message is translated into dozens of languages - the world boiled down to a multilingual essence. Inspired by this, the author asks: what makes 'a language'? With the help of the international community of language geeks, he shows us what the message looks like in Ancient Sumerian, Zulu, Cornish, Klingon - and many more. Along the way he considers why Hungarian writing looks angry, how to make up your own language, and the meaning of the heavy metal umlaut. Overturning the Babel myth, he argues that the messy diversity of language shouldn't be a source of conflict, but of collective wonder. This is a book about hope, a love letter to language. 'This is a wonderful book. A treasure trove of mind-expanding insights into language and humanity encased in a deliciously quirky, quixotic quest. I loved it. Warning: this will keep you reading.' - Ann Morgan, author of Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer

The Language Construction Kit
The Language Construction Kit

Author: Mark Rosenfelder

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780984470006

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A guide to creating realistic languages for RPGs, fantasy and science fiction, movies or video games, or international communication... or just an unusual way to learn about how languages work.