To have another language is to possess a second soul
Charlemagne
If you have already finished all the past papers, or are looking to take a break from UKLO questions, have a look at these:
- Larry Trask: Language: The Basics (for a quick, engaging read)
- Larry Trask: Introducing Linguistics: A graphic guide (good reviews on Amazon)
- William McGregor: Linguistics: an introduction. (a popular undergraduate textbook)
- Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman: An Introduction to Language (a widely-used undergraduate textbook, with chapters on different areas of linguistics and exercises at the end which are easier than the Advanced level questions, but testing knowledge of language as opposed to thinking skills; plus answers at the back!)
- Mark Baker: The Atoms of Language (aimed at non-specialists, with lots of talk of paradoxes and cracking codes, and introducing principles of linguistic analysis in the later chapters by comparing syntactic parameters to the periodic table).
- Dick Hudson: Invitation to Linguistics (accessible, clear, and with a focus on linguistic puzzles)
- David Crystal’s The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (a collection of fascinating facts about language that Crystal beautifully presents. Your school library may already have a copy; if not, ask them to get one!)
- Personal recommendations from Babette Verhoeven, one of our main puzzle-writers:
- David J. Peterson – The Art of Language Invention – Peterson is a “conlanger” – he constructs languages for film & TV – including Dothraki & Valyrian for Game of Thrones. While I appreciate that many among us might be suspicious about conlangers, Peterson is a trained linguist and his book takes a newbie to linguistics through the basics of language study (phonology, lexis/semantics, morphology & syntax, diachronic change, etc.) in a very accessible (and dare I say it, fun) way.
- Guy Deutscher’s popular linguistics books are great too:
- Through the Looking Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages (the title is misleading – it is much more nuanced, based on recent linguistic relativity research presented in an accessible manner)
- The Unfolding of Language: The Evolution of Mankind’s Greatest Invention (again, very accessible)
- Daniel Everett – Language: The Cultural Tool (his most accessible and linguistically focused book, I think)
- John McWhorter–
- What Language Is: And What It Isn’t And What It Could Be (nice general introduction through looking at a wide range of different languages including slang)
- The Language Hoax: Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language (again the title suggests a very strong anti-relativism stance, but the book is measured and sets out to tackle the more popular, non-expert myths about Eskimo’s different perception of snow because they have so many different words for it etc.)
- Diversity Linguistics Comment – a blog about diversity and universals written by linguists for linguists.
- Humans who read grammars, specially for and by young linguists.
- Language Log, written by a team of leading researchers.
- The official International Linguistics Olympiad blog for questions and answers about linguistics
- The Miam and Kilivila Collection, all about how languages classify objects, written by linguists at the University of Surrey for the general public.
- Gretchen McCulloch’s lovely website
- More from Babette Verhoeven:
- The Ling Space which “is dedicated to bringing you varied, accessible, and up-to-date content and discussion about linguistics and other language topics.”It’s got great short videos on all sorts of linguistic topics, as well as some interviews with experts in their field. It’s run by linguists from McGill University. It does take a formalist approach mostly, but it tackles some challenging concepts in an accessible manner.
Don’t like to read but still wondering what to do? Don’t worry I got you:
- Watch a TED talk about linguistics such as:
- Where did English come from?
- How languages evolve
- More recommendations from Babette Verhoeven:
- John McWhorter has done a few.
- Lera Boroditsky: how language shapes the way we think
- Patricia Kuhl: child language acquisition, which is a nice way into linguistics.
- Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain | Big Think:
- Linguistics podcast – a Youtube collection of talks about linguistics
- The Ling Space – Youtube collection about linguistics
- More Academic Videos:
- Anatomy of a Language: Our very own Dick Hudson, Guy Longworth, Hazel Pearson.
- Noam Chomsky: The Concept of Language
Not entertaining enough? Don’t worry I got you:
- London Grammar – Pure Shores in the Live Lounge
- Ed Sheeran – Bibia Be Ye Ye [Official Music Video]
- Let It Go – Behind The Mic Multi-Language Version (from “Frozen”)
- The War that Changed the English Language
- Christine Ohuruogu Clinches 400m Gold | Beijing 2008 Medal Moments
- Polyglot Conversations | Richard Simcott tells his story in 20 LANGUAGES!
- Ali G interviews Noam Chomsky
- 25 Unbelievable Things You Didn’t Know About Language And Linguistics
- About the Zulu language
- The Sound of the Yola language / Forth and Bargy dialect (Numbers, Greetings & Sample Text)
Hopefully you found something fun to watch or read. Oh what’s that? You still don’t know what to do? Maybe you are contemplating a deeper question: ‘what do i do now with my life?’. It’s an interesting question, but I don’t think you’ll find your answer here.