Rating: 2/5 David Skinner, The Story of Ain’t: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published (New York: Harper, 2012). It’s books like this that make me question my sanity. I read the jacket and promotional copy, I read the reviews, and I have to start to wonder if it’s just me. This book...
Rating: 3/5 W. Tecumseh Fitch, The Evolution of Language (Cambridge University Press, 2010). This is a textbook that surveys the state of research into the evolution of language. It does a high-level survey of our current understanding of human evolution, and Fitch then goes through seemingly each and every hypothesis...
Rating: 3/5 Jila Ghomeshi, Grammar Matters: The Social Significance of How We Use Language (Winnipeg, MB: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2010). This book was mentioned by a colleague in the latest edition of the EAC magazine Active Voice . I immediately checked it out from the library. Unfortunately I have to say I was...