Word Play: What Happens When People Talk - Tapa blanda

Farb, Peter

 
9780679734086: Word Play: What Happens When People Talk
Tapa blanda
ISBN 10: 0679734082 ISBN 13: 9780679734086
Editorial: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1993

Sinopsis

Why do certain words make us blush or wince? Why do men and women really speak different languages? Why do nursery rhymes in vastly different societies possess similar rhyme and rhythm patterns? What do slang, riddles and puns secretly have in common?

This erudite yet irresistibly readable book examines the game of language: its players, strategies, and hidden rules. Drawing on the most fascinating linguistic studies—and touching on everything from the Marx Brothers to linguistic sexism, from the phenomenon of glossolalia to Apache names for automobile parts—Word Play shows what really happens when people talk, no matter what language they happen to be using.

"Sinopsis" puede pertenecer a otra edición de este libro.

Acerca del autor

Peter Farb’s early work in the comparative study of Mediterranean languages, as well as his research collecting folk ballads and various styles of speech in isolated communities in the American South, led to a distinguished career in anthropological linguistics, where he specialized in remote, non-European languages. His extensive knowledge of a variety of American Indian languages—in North America as well as in Mexico, Central America, and Brazil—produced two best-selling books, Man’s Rise to Civilization as Shown by the Indians of North America and Face of North America. His various works have been translated into 14 languages.Mr. Farb served as a consultant at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and as curator of American Indian Cultures at the Riverside Museum in New York City.

De la contraportada

Why do certain words make us blush or wince? Why do men and women really speak different languages? Why do nursery rhymes in vastly different societies possess similar rhyme and rhythm patterns? What do slang, riddles and puns secretly have in common?
This erudite yet irresistibly readable book examines the game of language: its players, strategies, and hidden rules. Drawing on the most fascinating linguistic studies--and touching on everything from the Marx Brothers to linguistic sexism, from the phenomenon of glossolalia to Apache names for automobile parts--Word Play shows what really happens when people talk, no matter what language they happen to be using.
"A captivating, almost entirely unpedantic book...solidly founded in scholarship, love of language, and an unabashed worldliness about play itself."--Washington Post
"Absorbing...so curious, amusing, and enlightening...we almost inadvertently learn a great deal about linguistics. [But] it seems scarcely to matter what we've learned...we've simply had too much fun."--The New York Times

"Sobre este título" puede pertenecer a otra edición de este libro.

Editorial
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Año de publicación
1993
Idioma
Inglés
ISBN 10 
0679734082
ISBN 13 
9780679734086
Encuadernación
Tapa blanda
Número de páginas
379
Contacto del fabricante
no disponible
Persona responsable
no disponible

Otras ediciones populares con el mismo título

9780394486758: Word Play: What Happens When People Talk

Edición Destacada

ISBN 10:  0394486757 ISBN 13:  9780394486758
Editorial: Random House Inc, 1974
Tapa dura