{"product_id":"9781592407200","title":"What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be","description":"\u003cp\u003eA love letter to languages, celebrating their curiosities and smashing assumptions about correct grammar\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn eye-opening tour for all language lovers, \u003ci\u003eWhat Language Is \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a fascinating new perspective on the way humans communicate. from vanishing languages spoken by a few hundred people to major tongues like Chinese, and with copious revelations about the hodgepodge nature of English, John McWhorter shows readers how to see and hear languages as a linguist does.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePacked with big ideas about language alongside wonderful trivia, \u003ci\u003eWhat Language Is \u003c\/i\u003eexplains how languages across the globe (the Queen's English and Suriname creoles alike) originate, evolve, multiply, and divide. Raising provocative questions about what qualifies as a language (so-called slang does have structured grammar), McWhorter takes readers on a marvelous journey through time and place—from Persia to the languages of Sri Lanka—to deliver a feast of facts about the wonders of human linguistic expression.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47050098344176,"sku":"9781592407200","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781592407200_p0.jpg?v=1763812651","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781592407200","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}