Re: Books

Well, for non-linguists, I'd say just about any introductory linguistics
text.  Not everyone will like it, but I found _Teach Yourself
Linguistics_ by Jean Aitchison helpful.

For everyone else, a good dictionary in their native language.  Most
have a good grammar sketch in them, which is helpful sometimes.
Also, lots and lots of foreign language dictionaries and phrasebooks.  I
have small dictionaries and traveler's phrasebooks for a language on
almost every continent that I refer to constantly to try and get a feel
for the way other languages sound.
I also reference my old High School German I & II text books.  They do a
fairly good job of presenting lessons for the beginner.  They also start
with basic grammar and build it up, rather like a child might learn it.

Also, though it's not a book, I recommend foreign language television,
especially for languages that one doesn't speak.  I personally love
listening to the International Channel's  Dravidian TV movie review
programming and their Japanese TV talk/game shows and tele-dramas.  I
don't really understand much of what's going on, but I can *hear* a lot
of language happening! ^_^

Cheers!
Jim

> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:34:38 +0100
> From:    Ian Spackman <ianspackman@...>
> Subject: books
>
> Is this the book which people have been so strongly recommending for
> conlangers?
>
> Describing Morphosyntax: A Guide for Field Linguists
> Thomas E. Payne
>
> And while I'm at it, are there any other books essential to the conlanger's
> bookshelf?  (Not that I can afford many, but I can probably stretch to
> another one if sufficiently recommeded!
>
> Ian
--
"It's better to light one candle
   than to curse the darkness."
-Chinese Proverb and The Motto of the Christophers
                      http://www.christophers.org

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