1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910808968903321

Autore

McWhorter John H.

Titolo

The language hoax : why the world looks the same in any language / / John H. McWhorter

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford, [England] ; ; New York, New York : , : Oxford University Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-19-936160-6

0-19-936159-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (203 p.)

Disciplina

306.44

Soggetti

Language and culture

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; The Language Hoax:  Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language; Copyright; Dedication; CONTENTS; INTRODUCTION ; The Language Hoax; Chapter 1:  Studies Have Shown; Hitting a Wall after a Long Night; Kind of Blue; Tribe without Paper or Pencils Mysteriously Weak at Portraiture; It Depends on Where You Stand; Mommy, the Park Is Covered with Squirrel! Can I Go Feed Some of It?; Language Is about All of Us; Chapter 2:  Having It Both Ways?; Words versus Whorfianism; Rules of the Rain Forest?; Evidential Markers; The Irrelevance of Necessity; Not Those Things?

"No Word for X": Caveat LectorWho Thinks Otherwise?; Chapter 3:  An Interregnum: On Culture; Whorfianism versus Words; There Are Words and There Are Words; What's with Stand-up Comedy?; Culture Shaping Grammar: It Happens; Language and Universals: A Clarification; Moving Along; Chapter 4:  Dissing the Chinese; The Normal Language: Beyond English Indeed; A Blooming Mess; Choosing Which Differences Matter; Whorfianism and Thrift; The Dog That Doesn't Bark; When a Study Shows a Negative; Chapter 5:  What's the Worldview from English?; As If; Dey In, Dey Out; Try, Try Again; Undercooked?

Anglerfish Testicles and the FutureWhat's Significant?; Chapter 6:  Respect for Humanity; Advocacy or Reportage?; Problem One-Honesty;



Are Worldviews Always Noble?; Problem Two-Respect; Through the Microscope; Problem Three-Accuracy; What Is Enlightenment?; The Wonders of Sameness; Then Isn't Language Boring?; What Is Forward?; Notes; Introduction; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Index

Sommario/riassunto

A provocative argument against the idea that we view the world through the lens of the language we speak.