Linguistics

The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power....

In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land....

Many features of English sound normal to a native speaker, but linguists find them puzzling as well as revealing....

Language evolves with time, and so does what we consider profane or unspeakable. Nine Nasty Words is a rollicking examination of profanity, explored from every angle: historical, sociological, political, linguistic....

There are no direct records of the original Indo-European speech. By comparing the vocabularies of its various descendants, however, it is possible to reconstruct the basic Indo-European roots with considerable confidence....

The Mabinogion is a mesmerizing panorama of fantasy, romance, tragedy and humor. Blending Arthurian romance, Welsh legend and mythology, it tells tales of heroic knights, fair maidens, dramatic battles and magical beasts across 12 fantastical stories....

Drawing on evidence from many fields, including archaeology, anthropology, neurology and linguistics, Sverker Johansson weaves these disparate threads together to show how our human ancestors evolved into language users....

A charming but ineffective prince takes the road less travelled after a hunt, setting in motion events that result in him losing his wife and his kingdom of Grunewald in under a week....

Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Learn more in this audiobook....

Here is Daniel Defoe's honest portrayal of one woman's struggle for economic survival in an unsympathetic world....

Lady Mason's trial for forgery and perjury shocks the neighborhood....

In a single volume, the seminal writings of the world's leading philosopher, linguist, and critic, published to coincide with his 80th birthday....

Described by the New York Times as "arguably the most important intellectual alive," Noam Chomsky is known throughout the world for his highly influential writings on language and politics....

In this classic, the world’s expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language....

Would you like to find new words to use in your speech and writing? Would you like to be a fascinating conversationalist? Would you like to be a Scrabble expert? This book is for you....

The legendary Tarzan claims his birthright title as Lord Greystoke and starts a small family with Jane, now his wife. But just when things are going right, the evil Rokoff kidnaps Tarzan's infant son....

Whether it’s brusque, convincing, fraught with emotion, or dripping with innuendo, language is fundamentally a tool for conveying meaning....

Banter, chit-chat, gossip, natter, tete-a-tete: these are just a few of the terms for the varied ways in which we interact with one another through conversation. David Crystal explores the factors that motivate so many different kinds of talk and reveals the rules we use unconsciously....

Half the world's population speaks a language that has evolved from a single prehistoric mother tongue....

Both an entertaining send-up of linguistic oddities and a deeply researched history of English, Highly Irregular is essential for anyone who has paused to wonder about our marvelous mess of a language....

In this, the first of the Palliser parliamentary novels, the plight of women in marriage, politics and private life is seen through the eyes of Alice and Kate Vavisor, Lady Glencora and the coquettish Mrs. Greenow....

Penguin Classics presents Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series....

From the author of Proust and the Squid, a lively, ambitious, and deeply informative epistolary book that considers the future of the reading brain and our capacity for critical thinking, empathy, and reflection as we become increasingly dependent on digital technologies....

This is a story of interlocking tales from a group of steamboat passengers traveling down the Mississippi toward New Orleans....

In this wildly entertaining A to Z of verbal acrobatics, Gyles takes you on a whirlwind tour of our mother tongue – from the origins of words and correct grammar and punctuation, to similes, euphemisms and record breaking tongue twisters (try getting your mouth around floccinaucinihilipification!).