THE SOCIAL ART 2E: Language and Its Uses

by Ronald Macaulay

The Social Art is an engagingly written, highly accessible tour through the world of languages. Macaulay uses jokes, anecdotes, quotations, and examples to introduce readers to the full range of current linguistic knowledge, covering in 35 chapters, topics like language acquisition, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, dialects, conversation, narrative, swearing, and many others.

In this revised and expanded second edition, Macaulay brings the book up to date with the last decade of progress in linguistics, adding more American examples, and updating bibliographies. Two new chapters have been added, on theories of language development and on the evolution of language. The Social Art is perfect for general readers and students who want to learn about what it is that linguists do.

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics, Reference

257 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1994

Reviews

[Mariia Lyshen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Зе Сосал Арт (Ленґвіч енд ітс юзес)

Давно шукала наукпоп, який пов'язаний із лінгвістикою, і рада, що хіпстерська кав'ярня на Подолі мені підкинула цю книгу. Тут є усе: від принципу побудови двослівних речень у мовленні дітей до особливостей підколів чужих мам; праіндоєвропейська мова та гіпотетичний побут її гіпотетичних носіїв; втрата контролю над тим, що комунікується через текст; піджин, або ж gras bilong hed (hair) та gras antop long ai (eyebrow); passive voice як ліквідація відповідальности; чому дитина робить помилки в словах, які раніше використовувала правильно; цитати Вітґенштайна.

Написана просто, прочитана швидко. Дякую попередньому власнику цієї книги за веселі примітки англійською на полях. Приємно бачити, що рядки, які мені впали в серце, уже виділені чужим маркером. Єднає!

[Augurey · Rating 5 out of 5]

{Book 13/50 of 2024 reading Challenge}

Life saver book for research.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thoroughly readable linguistics primer. Lots of examples to illustrate abstract concepts like ergativity, including many from his own research. Macaulay also made a decent effort to comment on the abstractness and overfocus that sometimes bogs down linguistics. He is not Chomskyan, making a heavy argument against his hypothesis of a Universal Grammar.

***evidentials seem extremely interesting given current politics, making each assertion impossible to say without a citation.

[Shaghayegh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a decent book for its own time, but some of its discussions are a bit dated now and it lacks some critical current topics.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my English course, and when it arrived I couldn't help but think it looked like the most boring book you could imagine, a view that my family were quick to constantly reiterate. However, on actually beginning to read it, it turned out you certainly can't judge a book by its cover. Having never studied English language, learning about linguistics and the development and use of language was a completely new area for me (other than foreign language learning) and something which I actually found fascinating, especially about how language is learned by infants and the history of language, such as the reconstructed Indo-European language and the changes that have occurred to create the languages we know today (although 'The Great vowel Shift' does sound a little over dramatic). Although at times Macaulay was slightly repetitive, such as constantly reiterating his dismissal of the idea of children being born with an innate knowledge of linguistic structure, this could be seen as a positive rather than a negative, as it helped cement the ideas in my mind, which I suppose was the point! The chapters on literature and children's lore also proved very interesting. In the literature chapter it was interesting to unravel a few techniques which have been used in poetry since Shakespeare's time, whilst the examples of word play within children's lore were great, if only for their comedic value! All in all, for what is effectively a linguistics textbook, I was gripped, and now feel inspired to learn more languages as well as just listening to ordinary conversation closely, as Macaulay revealed what an ingenious 'dance' are simplest utterances and responses are.

[birdmaddgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for language & culture class. really good overview of language & of the english language in particular. easy to follow but not shallow.