Re: Conlang Books - Reviews & Recommendations

I have to put a plug in for Guy Deutscher's The
Unfolding of Language. From a professional or academic
linguist standpoint, I'm sure it has its shortcomings;
BUT, from a completely lay perspective (i.e., mine), I
think it's a great, easy-to-digest history of
linguistic evolution. From a conlanger perspective,
it's basic ideas would be tailor-made to use as the
building blocks of a language working from the ground
up. As an introduction to this topic, I thoroughly
enjoyed it (enough to purchase the paperback when it
came out).

Another one I read recently was The First Word by
Christine Kenneally ISBN 978-0670034901. This one got
bogged down in a couple spots, but it did an excellent
job in outlining the supposed origins of language
itself as well as the current state and history of
academic investigation into this long-ignored realm.
Once again, from a conlanger's perspective, one might
be able to incorporate some ideas into a conworld
setting and use these concepts to explain why your
language has the traits that it does.


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