Re: OT: Good Books?

Philippe:
> I would like to recommend Wierzbicka. I read
> 'Semantics: Primes & Universals'
Anna Weetabix's work is (imo) splendid for conlangers, but
only for conlangers.

> I'm thinking of buying something from Jackendoff, but
> I fear it will be in English. If somebody knows his
> books, could he please tell me if it's readable for a
> foreigner ? Is it interesting ? Gracias in advance.
I (or my former, younger self) fell in love with his
_Semantics and cognition_ when I first discovered it.
I'm sure it's readable for a foreigner (Jackendoff is
famous for writing clearly). It would be interesting to
the sort of conlanger who is interested in the idea of
semantic primitives.

Jim Hoffman:
> > While I've heard the _Morphosyntax_ book recommended
> > before, frankly, just the *name* intimidates me still.
Don't be intimidated. It has inspired many a conlanger with
little prior knowledge of linguistics, and the book is
addressed to people with little prior knowledge.

> > And, I think I've heard *Language Universals and
> > Linguistic Typology* recommended before, too.
> > But, something that's more, er, populist, is
> > probably better for a conlang noob like me.
David Crystal's _Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language_? This
book is good at giving an overview of the subject, and is
full of well chosen snippets of information. Imagine if
John Cowan were commissioned to write an encyclopedia of
language, and you'll have a sense of what it is like. If
you read this book, you would no longer feel intimidated...

> > I've heard of _Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things_,
> > and I have to admit that sounds interesting.
I find it quite heavy going. It's more a work of cognitive
science than ordinary linguistics.

--And.

Replies