Bastard Tongues by Derek Bickerton is an interesting account of a linguist's travels around the world. Bickerton was a literature teacher turned linguist by a colleague; in the novel a reader can watch him grow in the field as he makes new discoveries. His goal is to separate the differences between Creole and pidgin forms of languages, and get to the root of where the languages came from, how they got there, and how it is structured in the world's lowliest of languages. It is easy to see from the beginning of the novel why he calls these languages "bastard tongues";they are hard to comprehend and equally hard to study.
As an author, Bickerton is endearing. He spends much of his time in bars getting to know the locals and recording their conversations so that he can go back to listen and study the language in it's most raw surrounding. His tone makes it an easy read through his journeys, however when he begins to break down the grammatical structure of Creole and pidgin languages, it begins to turn into a dry read. Most of the extreme explanation of grammar can be skipped. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested at all in linguistics; it seems to be one of the better books out there on the topic. It is a bit of a time consuming read, but nonetheless it is very relevant to this class and a good book as a whole.
~Malcolm X
Compelling summery!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading this wonderful book!
Both of our authors show great enthusiasm for their work!
Where in particular does Derek travel?
Any chance he went to Nepal?
-Siddhattha gotama
Your book sounds very interesting! I would enjoy reading about these languages so I will look into this book
ReplyDelete-Pocahontas
My book also discussed the creole culture in the Americas. It would be interesting to compare the development of the language to the cultural and historical information between the two books.
ReplyDelete-Marie Antoinette
My book also goes into details about the spread of language, this book looks like it is a much easier and entertaining read though.
ReplyDelete-Robert E. Lee
This looks like a worthy and fun read!!!! My author wrote a book of a personal experience, as well.
ReplyDelete-Harriet Beecher Stowe
I heard that this book was pretty good. Linguistics seems very interesting, but also very time consuming.
ReplyDelete-Confucius
I heard this book was pretty good; it seems you enjoyed it from your summary! Lingustics seems so interesting, but also very time consuming.
ReplyDelete-Confucius