The Power of Babel

2003-01-07 Language Arts & Disciplines

Author : John McWhorter
Release : 2003-01-07
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 85X/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Power of Babel by : John McWhorter

Download or read book The Power of Babel written by John McWhorter. This book was released on 2003-01-07. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, linguistics professor John McWhorter reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment. Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, Creoles, and nonstandard dialects.

The Power of Babel

1998 Foreign Language Study

Author : Ali AlʼAmin Mazrui
Release : 1998
Genre : Foreign Language Study
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 072/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Power of Babel by : Ali AlʼAmin Mazrui

Download or read book The Power of Babel written by Ali AlʼAmin Mazrui. This book was released on 1998. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tackling the contentious question of African languages versus European languages, this study argues that the dominance of the incoming languages is due to two factors: originally the societies were not expansionist enough, and later the peoples of Africa failed to be nationalist enough. ALI A. MAZRUI was Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton and Senior Scholar in African Studies at Cornell University North America: Chicago U Press; Uganda: Fountain Publishers; Kenya: EAEP

Babel

2022-08-23 Fiction

Author : R. F. Kuang
Release : 2022-08-23
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 447/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Babel by : R. F. Kuang

Download or read book Babel written by R. F. Kuang. This book was released on 2022-08-23. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War “Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide… Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

Babel

2018-12-04 Language Arts & Disciplines

Author : Gaston Dorren
Release : 2018-12-04
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 724/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Babel by : Gaston Dorren

Download or read book Babel written by Gaston Dorren. This book was released on 2018-12-04. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Babel is an endlessly interesting book, and you don’t have to have any linguistic training to enjoy it . . . it’s just so much fun to read.” —NPR English is the world language, except that 80 percent of the world doesn’t speak it. Linguist Gaston Dorren calculates that to speak fluently with half of the world’s people in their mother tongues, you’d need to know no fewer than twenty languages. In Babel, he sets out to explore these top twenty world languages, which range from the familiar (French, Spanish) to the surprising (Malay, Javanese, Bengali). Whisking readers along on a delightful journey, he traces how these languages rose to greatness while others fell away, and shows how speakers today handle the foibles of their mother tongues. Whether showcasing tongue-tying phonetics, elegant but complicated writing scripts, or mind-bending quirks of grammar, Babel vividly illustrates that mother tongues are like nations: each has its own customs and beliefs that seem as self-evident to those born into it as they are surprising to outsiders. Babel reveals why modern Turks can’t read books that are a mere 75 years old, what it means in practice for Russian and English to be relatives, and how Japanese developed separate “dialects” for men and women. Dorren also shares his experiences studying Vietnamese in Hanoi, debunks ten myths about Chinese characters, and discovers the region where Swahili became the lingua franca. Witty and utterly fascinating, Babel will change how you look at and listen to the world. “Word nerds of every strain will enjoy this wildly entertaining linguistic study.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Fall of Babel

2021-11-09 Fiction

Author : Josiah Bancroft
Release : 2021-11-09
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 182/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Fall of Babel by : Josiah Bancroft

Download or read book The Fall of Babel written by Josiah Bancroft. This book was released on 2021-11-09. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible final book in the phenomenon fantasy series described as “future classics" follows one man's dangerous journey through a labyrinthine world and the mysteries he uncovers along the way. (Los Angeles Times). "Josiah Bancroft is a magician. His books are that rare alchemy: gracefully written, deliriously imaginative, action packed, warm, witty, and thought provoking." —Madeline Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Circe As Marat's siege engine bores through the Tower, erupting inside ringdoms and leaving chaos in its wake, Senlin can do nothing but observe the mayhem from inside the belly of the beast. Caught in a charade, Senlin desperately tries to sabotage the rampaging Hod King, even as Marat's objective grows increasingly clear. The leader of the zealots is bound for the Sphinx's lair and the unimaginable power it contains. In the city under glass at the Tower's summit, Adam discovers a utopia where everyone inexplicably knows the details of his past. As Adam unravels the mystery of his fame, he soon discovers the crowning ringdom conceals a much darker secret. Aboard the State of Art, Edith and her crew adjust to the reality that Voleta has awoken from death changed. She seems to share more in common with the Red Hand now than her former self. While Edith wars for the soul of the young woman, a greater crisis looms: They will have to face Marat on unequal footing and with Senlin caught in the crossfire. And when the Bridge of Babel is finally opened, and the Brick Layer's true ambition revealed, neither they nor the Tower will ever be the same again. Also by Josiah Bancroft: The Books of Babel Senlin Ascends Arm of the Sphinx The Hod King The Fall of Babel

Popular eBooks

The Power of Babel

The Power of Babel

Babel

Babel

The Fall of Babel

You may also like...