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
