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Rare Tongues: The Secret Stories of Hidden Languages
An enthralling tour around the rarest languages in the world.
From the whistling languages of La Gomera in the Canary Islands and the Hmong people in East and Southeast Asia, to the wars and clashes in Sri Lanka and the conservation efforts in Hawaii and New Zealand, Rare Tongues draws attention to how language and culture are becoming increasingly homogenous, and what we risk losing as a result.
In Rare Tongues, linguist and writer Lorna Gibb explores the history of these languages, the cultures they belong to and the tales they tell. The languages, and the efforts being made to preserve them, offer us a glimpse into what we can learn from each of them, and what they teach us about our planet, about medicine, about indigenous culture and tradition, even the history of all mankind.
At once entertaining and informative, Lorna Gibb makes a compelling case for the preservation of the rich linguistic diversity of our world, and expertly shows why it matters for us all.
From the whistling languages of La Gomera in the Canary Islands and the Hmong people in East and Southeast Asia, to the wars and clashes in Sri Lanka and the conservation efforts in Hawaii and New Zealand, Rare Tongues draws attention to how language and culture are becoming increasingly homogenous, and what we risk losing as a result.
In Rare Tongues, linguist and writer Lorna Gibb explores the history of these languages, the cultures they belong to and the tales they tell. The languages, and the efforts being made to preserve them, offer us a glimpse into what we can learn from each of them, and what they teach us about our planet, about medicine, about indigenous culture and tradition, even the history of all mankind.
At once entertaining and informative, Lorna Gibb makes a compelling case for the preservation of the rich linguistic diversity of our world, and expertly shows why it matters for us all.
353 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 3, 2025
I listened to the audio version of this newly published book. It’s so new, in fact, that they don’t seem to have decided yet on a cover design for the audio version. The author describes the book both as an “Odyssey” and as a personal journey. It’s not a exhaustive description of “rare tongues” but a compilation of entries about languages that particularly interested her. It isn’t limited to verbal languages. She also covers “Plains Sign Talk”, the gesture language used as a lingua franca by Native Americans, and various whistling languages.
The author hails from Bellshill in central Scotland, and likes to tell us that she grew up in a Council housing estate, (in the UK this is seen as an indicator of disadvantage) and that she attended a comprehensive school (i.e., an ordinary state-funded school). At the time her school offered Latin, though today the subject has all but disappeared from the curriculum in comprehensive schools. (The comprehensive school I attended in the 1970s also offered Latin, but no longer does). It was through Latin that she discovered her love of languages and her talent for them. Latin is the first language explored in the book. Although often referred to as a “dead language,” she points out it did not so much die as evolve. There is an interesting comparison with Manchu, which was once the language of China’s ruling elite, but which now has less than 20 native speakers, all elderly.
The author may have been raised on a Council estate but she seems to have become fully integrated within the world of academia. The book contains a lot of academic-style phrases like “the intersectionality of gender disparity and language marginalisation” sometimes accompanied by arguments I felt were a bit tendentious. There’s a section on “eco-linguistics”. Most people would probably go along with the idea that every language contains unique references to the physical environment within which the language developed, but the author goes a step further, arguing that disappearing languages contain irreplaceable ecological knowledge, that cannot be substituted by modern science. I personally found this unconvincing. She also argues that rare languages spoken by tribal peoples reflect the speakers’ “stewardship of the environment” and contain inherent recognition of the need to maintain the balance of the natural world. I don’t have space in this review to rehearse all the arguments around this idea, but I feel the author has an over-romanticised view of tribal peoples and pre-modern societies.
The book is most focused on the relationships between language, identity and power, and the idea of the “nation state.” Many of the languages featured suffered persecution because they were seen as divisive to the unity of the state. There’s an old joke that the definition of a language is “a dialect with an army and a navy”, and there is discussion about the language we used to call Serbo-Croat, now described as four different languages, although they are all mutually intelligible. By contrast Sicilian, a language with significant differences from Italian, is often described as a “dialect”. The last section looks at language rebirth, focusing particularly on Hebrew, and Māori.
On the whole I quite liked this. I didn’t find it particularly revelatory, but it was informative. I was introduced to the existence of a number of languages I had not known about (Wymysorys anyone?). I had some doubts about the narrator’s pronunciation in the Scottish Gaelic section, but this is obviously an exceptionally challenging book to narrate.
Quite a short audiobook – 7 hours 21 minutes.
The author hails from Bellshill in central Scotland, and likes to tell us that she grew up in a Council housing estate, (in the UK this is seen as an indicator of disadvantage) and that she attended a comprehensive school (i.e., an ordinary state-funded school). At the time her school offered Latin, though today the subject has all but disappeared from the curriculum in comprehensive schools. (The comprehensive school I attended in the 1970s also offered Latin, but no longer does). It was through Latin that she discovered her love of languages and her talent for them. Latin is the first language explored in the book. Although often referred to as a “dead language,” she points out it did not so much die as evolve. There is an interesting comparison with Manchu, which was once the language of China’s ruling elite, but which now has less than 20 native speakers, all elderly.
The author may have been raised on a Council estate but she seems to have become fully integrated within the world of academia. The book contains a lot of academic-style phrases like “the intersectionality of gender disparity and language marginalisation” sometimes accompanied by arguments I felt were a bit tendentious. There’s a section on “eco-linguistics”. Most people would probably go along with the idea that every language contains unique references to the physical environment within which the language developed, but the author goes a step further, arguing that disappearing languages contain irreplaceable ecological knowledge, that cannot be substituted by modern science. I personally found this unconvincing. She also argues that rare languages spoken by tribal peoples reflect the speakers’ “stewardship of the environment” and contain inherent recognition of the need to maintain the balance of the natural world. I don’t have space in this review to rehearse all the arguments around this idea, but I feel the author has an over-romanticised view of tribal peoples and pre-modern societies.
The book is most focused on the relationships between language, identity and power, and the idea of the “nation state.” Many of the languages featured suffered persecution because they were seen as divisive to the unity of the state. There’s an old joke that the definition of a language is “a dialect with an army and a navy”, and there is discussion about the language we used to call Serbo-Croat, now described as four different languages, although they are all mutually intelligible. By contrast Sicilian, a language with significant differences from Italian, is often described as a “dialect”. The last section looks at language rebirth, focusing particularly on Hebrew, and Māori.
On the whole I quite liked this. I didn’t find it particularly revelatory, but it was informative. I was introduced to the existence of a number of languages I had not known about (Wymysorys anyone?). I had some doubts about the narrator’s pronunciation in the Scottish Gaelic section, but this is obviously an exceptionally challenging book to narrate.
Quite a short audiobook – 7 hours 21 minutes.
April 24, 2025
Some people are so smart and have such good ideas but are just such boring writers
June 22, 2026
Really interesting!! I’m really interested in researching cultures/languages that have been suppressed, or even just those that are completely different to my own, so i had a knowledge base for a lot of the languages mentioned but equally there were so many that i knew nothing about or that I’d never heard of!! Amazing!! I also appreciated all the phonetic explanations to illustrate points - I didn’t do phonetics past first semester of uni, so listening to the audiobook definitely helped me here or else I would have been on wikitongues trying to figure out how to pronounce the different phonemes. I’d recommend if you’re interested in language, but also if you’re not really knowledgable at all. I think it’s vital to spread the knowledge of suppressed language; as Gibb argues, language is the secret to understanding humanity, the world, everything.
August 21, 2025
I love the topic, I love languages and their kinships, continual movement, births and deaths , mirroring people’s migrations, communities’ births and deaths. I was disappointed. There is information galore, but I missed the passion. For me it was too dry.
June 16, 2025
A really interesting linguistic journey, perfect for language lovers. This book is not an extensive catalog on rare languages but rather one linguist’s personal reflection on a handful of them. That’s ok—I enjoyed her insights on small or endangered languages.
May 6, 2026
This book is full of interesting facts, but lacks an engaging narrative. Some languages are deeply explained while others are mentioned very superficially. In both cases though, ideas repeat again and again. The topic had potential but the execution was a bit disappointing for me.
May 24, 2025
It could have been a really good book, if half of the chapters weren't abandoned in the middle of writing.
June 12, 2026
This book is very approachable if you're curious about world languages. The glossary in the back is comprehensive and simple to understand. As an introductory text to the diversity of human language and ecolinguistics, I would recommend. If you are a language nerd already, you may not get much out of this.
This is a linguistics book that's not dry and has just enough anecdotes sprinkled in with information. You don't need to know the IPA like the back of your hand, nor do you need to understand too much of the technical work that linguists do. Honestly, I think curiosity alone will suffice. If you're curious about this sort of thing, and have studied a foreign language, or your own, you'll breeze on through. It left me a little wanting, though. And I don't think the author ever made a good case for what makes a language "rare." There's supchapters on Guaraní and Catalan - you'll hear these languages on Netflix or at a Dunkin Donuts in New Jersey.
So are they all "rare" languages, in the sense that, like, you're unlikely to interact with them - in text or with speakers? Or, that they've had little influence from other languages or made little influence on other languages? (I mean, the first chapter - which was one of the best, in my opinion - was on Latin, so obviously no.)
I think it's more of the steakhouse definition of "rare" - the languages in this book are juicy. And cool on the inside.( Sorry not sorry for the gross metaphor, language nerds. )
So, read this book and follow the "I language I love is" podcast (I am not affiliated, I just know you will like it), buy a liguist a coffee sometime, and listen to Miriam Makeba (she was quoted before one of the chapters:)
This is a linguistics book that's not dry and has just enough anecdotes sprinkled in with information. You don't need to know the IPA like the back of your hand, nor do you need to understand too much of the technical work that linguists do. Honestly, I think curiosity alone will suffice. If you're curious about this sort of thing, and have studied a foreign language, or your own, you'll breeze on through. It left me a little wanting, though. And I don't think the author ever made a good case for what makes a language "rare." There's supchapters on Guaraní and Catalan - you'll hear these languages on Netflix or at a Dunkin Donuts in New Jersey.
So are they all "rare" languages, in the sense that, like, you're unlikely to interact with them - in text or with speakers? Or, that they've had little influence from other languages or made little influence on other languages? (I mean, the first chapter - which was one of the best, in my opinion - was on Latin, so obviously no.)
I think it's more of the steakhouse definition of "rare" - the languages in this book are juicy. And cool on the inside.( Sorry not sorry for the gross metaphor, language nerds. )
So, read this book and follow the "I language I love is" podcast (I am not affiliated, I just know you will like it), buy a liguist a coffee sometime, and listen to Miriam Makeba (she was quoted before one of the chapters:)
October 20, 2025
Lorna Gibb’s Rare Tongues is a luminous journey through the world’s vanishing voices. From the whistled speech of La Gomera to the click languages of Namibia, from Sámi in the far north to the Aboriginal songlines of Australia and the dual heartbeat of Guaraní and Spanish in Paraguay, Gibb listens for what remains when words begin to disappear.
She writes with both precision and grace, showing how language holds not only stories but ways of seeing - the memory of a landscape, the rhythm of thought, the shape of belonging. Her chapters move seamlessly between reportage, history, and memoir, and when she turns to her own heritage in Gaelic and Scots, the book becomes deeply personal: a meditation on what it means to lose a tongue and still long to hear its echo.
Though grounded in loss, Rare Tongues is ultimately hopeful. Lorna Gibb finds resilience in every corner - in classrooms, songs, and communities refusing silence. This is a beautifully written, quietly powerful book that reminds us language is not just something we speak, but something we live inside.
She writes with both precision and grace, showing how language holds not only stories but ways of seeing - the memory of a landscape, the rhythm of thought, the shape of belonging. Her chapters move seamlessly between reportage, history, and memoir, and when she turns to her own heritage in Gaelic and Scots, the book becomes deeply personal: a meditation on what it means to lose a tongue and still long to hear its echo.
Though grounded in loss, Rare Tongues is ultimately hopeful. Lorna Gibb finds resilience in every corner - in classrooms, songs, and communities refusing silence. This is a beautifully written, quietly powerful book that reminds us language is not just something we speak, but something we live inside.
September 7, 2026
Definitely enjoyed the book, though I was hoping for more of an actual linguistic deep dive into more of the languages discussed than just Latin. From the author's own experiences as a minority language speaker, it's obvious that's she's very passionate and knowledgeable about sociolinguistics and I love when people shed a light on linguistic imperialism.
But her knowledge of foreign language as a whole seemed pretty lacking, and this felt much more like a book on European history than anything else at times. A lot of the examples of "distinctive features" she described from minority Romance languages were essentially identical to the way they worked in Spanish, French, etc, when these languages *do* have distinctive features that could have been described instead.
Also writing Hebrew from left-to-right is honestly so egregious coming from a linguist.
A fun read and I learned a few things, but I definitely furrowed my brow in frustration several times along the way.
But her knowledge of foreign language as a whole seemed pretty lacking, and this felt much more like a book on European history than anything else at times. A lot of the examples of "distinctive features" she described from minority Romance languages were essentially identical to the way they worked in Spanish, French, etc, when these languages *do* have distinctive features that could have been described instead.
Also writing Hebrew from left-to-right is honestly so egregious coming from a linguist.
A fun read and I learned a few things, but I definitely furrowed my brow in frustration several times along the way.
September 7, 2026
Flat and fleeting: though crucial on the defense of endangered languages, Rare Tongues only offers a skimming read on the languages it professes to shine a light on, but as most of these languages only get a page of two (while Latin gets a whole chapter), I feel I'd might as well read a Wikipedia glossary. For lacking linguistic depth, only discussing a scant few words per language, daintily hopping from Leco to Penan and Hawaiian to Nuxálk, it all but waters down the whole mission and message of the book.
Yet I'm glad to have been put into contact with amazing discoveries such as Plains Sign Talk or Wymysorys, part Polish, part West Germanic: Ynzer Foter, dü byst ym hymuł,
Daj noma zuł zajn gywajt; Daj Kyngrajch zuł dö kuma; Daj wyła zuł zajn ym hymuł an uf der aot;
That's cool!
Yet I'm glad to have been put into contact with amazing discoveries such as Plains Sign Talk or Wymysorys, part Polish, part West Germanic: Ynzer Foter, dü byst ym hymuł,
Daj noma zuł zajn gywajt; Daj Kyngrajch zuł dö kuma; Daj wyła zuł zajn ym hymuł an uf der aot;
That's cool!
August 12, 2026
I don't need to learn another language. I don't need to learn a language only spoken in a country I do not live in. I don't need to learn a language with no practical pragmatic use to my life, nor anyone to speak to in said language. It would be academically irresponsible of me to extend my DuoLingo wishlist. If I have no discernible reason to learn a language, then why would I learn it?
BTW on a personal update on my life, I have decided to learn Hmong, the whistling language of the Himalayas. I have managed to find lessons on Facebook Reels. Catch me like: :* ♩♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ
BTW on a personal update on my life, I have decided to learn Hmong, the whistling language of the Himalayas. I have managed to find lessons on Facebook Reels. Catch me like: :* ♩♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ
June 19, 2026
(Had I known) If you read this book, start with the appendix which explains the language terminology unless you are already familiar with it. Also, the last chapter really explains the author's reasons for writing the book and is necessary for understanding some of the chapters. I learned a lot and probably should read it again now that I have a better perspective on the author's writing style. Her personal touch adds to the book's readability.
January 14, 2026
A good introduction for people to minority languages. The book is more of a collection of essays on interesting languages, and Gibb touches on some interesting themes, but there were a few times I felt she could've said more and been more in-depth. I have been left with some great rabbit holes to go down though!
August 9, 2025
!!Неймовірна книга сповнена історіями про життя, смерть\сон та відновлення мов. Зокрема виявляється що використання самоназви мов\народів письменниками зникаючих\пригнічених мов як прізвище є відносно розповсюдженим (тож не тільки Леся Українка мала таку фішку)
May 12, 2025
4.5 - I love languages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3
January 31, 2026
Ebook. Fascinating. I could read a this content if the book were 10 times longer. Alas.
February 21, 2026
3.5 ⭐️
April 16, 2026
Fascinating topic - so much so that I found this a thoroughly interesting read despite it being a bit on the dry side.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews