Through the Language Glass by Guy Deutscher reviewed by Jonathan Allin Guy Deutscher is an honorary Research Fellow at the School of Languages, Linguistics, and Cultures in the University of Manchester. He is an Israeli linguist, born 1969 in Tel Aviv. He received an undergraduate degree in mathematics at the University of Cambridge, then earned a PhD in linguistics from Cambridge. He researched Historical Linguistics at St John's College. In the 2018 Rosh HaShanah magazine I reviewed Deutscher’s “The unfolding of language”. “Through the language glass” is perhaps not quite up to the same standard, but is still a useful and interesting read. The premise behind the book is the relationship, if any, between language and how we think. It’s not a perfect read: there may have been too much on colour and not enough on gender or other language differences, and perhaps by the end the journey was more interesting than the destination. It seems obvious that our language must affect the way we think: language is part of our culture and our culture certainly has an impact on our social mores. The converse is also true: changes in our culture will effect changes in our language. Foreign words are adopted to discuss new ideas, the uses of gender are modified, new words are created by the “pop” generation, new poetries are invented. We might investigate the impact of language on culture by studying bilingual Page 26
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.