Re: OT: Good Books?

I would like to recommend Wierzbicka. I read
'Semantics: Primes & Universals', in English as it
seems that French editors haven't discovered her yet,
and I found her book clear, pleasant and exciting.
This is very rare among linguist writers. This doesn't
mean that I share blindly her theories, but it really
brought me something. Also, it is a structured book,
not just a collection of vague ideas with ad hoc
examples put together to make something resembling a
book.

I could recommend other books, but they are in French
(especially the PUF collection 'Linguistique
Nouvelle', at least, most of them - I'm still allergic
to Montague school). Pottier (Semantique Generale) or
Lazard (L'actance) were quite interesting and rather
understandable.

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.

--- "J. K. Hoffman" <ryumaou@...> wrote:
> > Date:    Thu, 4 Mar 2004 14:23:57 -0500
> > From:    John Quijada <jq_ithkuil@...>
> > Subject: Re: OT: Good Books?
> > -----------
> > The following books are guaranteed to open one's
> eyes to what is possible
> > in language beyond Indo-European and should get
> the conlanging creative
> > juices flowing:
> >
> > "Language, Thought and Reality:  Selected Writings
> of Benjamin Lee Whorf"
> > edited by John B. Carroll.  The essays toward the
> last half of the book are
> > what you want.
> >
> > "Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things:  What
> Categories Reveal About the Mind"
> > by George Lakoff.
> >
> > "Semantics, Culture, and Cognition: Universal
> Human Concepts in Culture-
> > Specific Configurations" by Anna Wierzbicka
> >
> > --John Quijada
>
> While I've heard the _Morphosyntax_ book recommended
> before, frankly,
> just the *name* intimidates me still.  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.
> I've heard of _Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things_,
> and I have to admit
> that sounds interesting.  _Semantics, Culture, and
> Cognition_ is totally
>    new to me.  Care to give a short review? ^_^
> And, how hard do you think the Whorf collection will
> be for someone that
> has to look up stuff in the linguistics glossary
> still?  If it's just a
> matter of stretching, I can manage, but if it's over
> my head, I might as
> well focus on some other scary sounding book.
>
> In any case, thank you, everyone, for your
> suggestions!
> Jim
> --
> "What is impossible today may suddenly become
> possible tomorrow."
> - Thomas Merton

=====
Philippe Caquant

"Le langage est source de malentendus."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

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