Peter Trudgill looks at why human societies at different times and
places produce different kinds of language. He considers how far
social factors influence language structure and compares languages
and dialects spoken across the globe, from Vietnam to Nigeria,
Polynesia to Scandinavia, and from Canada to Amazonia. Modesty
prevents Pennsylvanian Dutch Mennonites using the verb wotte
('want'); stratified society lies behind complicated Japanese
honorifics; and a mountainous homeland suggests why speakers of
Tibetan-Burmese Lahu have words for up there and down there. But
culture and environment don't explain why Amazonian Jarawara needs
three past tenses, nor why Nigerian Igbo can make do with eight
adjectives, nor why most languages spoken in high altitudes do not
exhibit an array of spatial demonstratives. Nor do they account for
some languages changing faster than others or why some get more
complex while others get simpler. The author looks at these and
many other puzzles, exploring the social, linguistic, and other
factors that might explain them and in the context of a huge range
of languages and societies. Peter Trudgill writes readably,
accessibly, and congenially. His book is jargon-free, informed by
acute observation, and enlivened by argument: it will appeal to
everyone with an interest in the interactions of language with
culture, environment, and society.
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