Language in the Modern World

by Simeon Potter

An examination of the first principles of language in the modern world, based on the author's hope for the future of language, that by greatly improved linguistic techniques all educated people may master at least one of the great living languages of the world other than their own, and that thus all men of good will may be able to communicate freely and fully with one another.

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics, Language

221 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixture, but a satisfying one. Potter here (published in 1960 as it was) aims to bring together a broad range of aspects of the field of linguistics, and does so successfully - as a layperson this was easy to understand in the main, and provided a superb introduction to the area.

There were certainly many quirky little aspects which I found interesting. I also enjoyed (perhaps for the wrong reasons) the insight given in to the views of academics half a century or so ago, post-colonial pre-globalisation, this was a historical snapshot in places.

That said, for all that it wasn't a long book, sections were in places a little repetitive - there is only so many ways in which similar linguistic aspects can be discussed where they have evolved independently and at times I uncharitably wondered "so what?" upon reading about a certain word derivation or a certain quirk of one language placing the subject of a phrase in a different order to another.

For all this, I did find it an interesting read - especially as it isn't the kind of non-fiction I often pick up.

[Julius Cramer Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Virkelig god introduktion til feltet. ekstremt velskrevet og propfyldt med eksempler der underbygger hans påstande og pointer. Selvom hovedfokus var på den indoeuropæiske sprogstamme, synes jeg stadig at man fik et godt og detaljeret billede af hvordan resten af verdens sprog hænger sammen med den (Især sjovt at se hvor mange paralleller der er mellem sanskrit og f.eks. fransk/italiensk/tysk/hollandsk).

Anbefaler helt klart til den der vil have en god introduktion til sprogvidenskab for at se om det er af interesse.

[annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

first linguistics book, fascinating. just an overview and mostly focused on indo-european languages, however it said a bit about everything. i especially liked the fact about triconsonantal words in hebrew and arabic (in arabic — islam, shalam, muslim, all with s, l, m). a bit dated perhaps but i enjoyed

[Mar Escribano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book if you are interested in languages