The Loom of Language: An Approach to the Mastery of Many Languages

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The language-learning strategies are invaluable, and Hogben has a gift for making the history of languages not just tolerably interesting, but page-turning.

There is so much great information in here that it requires repeat readings over several years, especially Part II. A dica mais importante, que perpassa o livro todo, é que, para aprender um idioma com menor esforço, é muito útil adquirir uma consciência linguística. Although I've gone much farther in my study of languages and of linguistics, this book will remain dear to my heart forever. One final note- the final section of the book has extensive word lists for the previously mentioned groups, as well as Greek roots used in scientific terminology. The English language is a mongrel, consisting of 29% Norman French vocab grafted onto German grammar, with an incredible 9% of our vocab coming from Greek as well.

We should, iiowever, remember that there is an excessively urgent need for a more widespread common second world language. The Old English word wæter had a hard T consonant that survived to English, but evolved to “ss” and softened in German.

In fact they rarely acknowledge other languages, treating their subject as if it was the only language in the world.The last third was grandpa going on a rant, mischaracterizing several international languages, and dreaming up an international auxiliary language that would be more efficient than any other invented before. I disagree with both of these points deeply, but the writing itself was so fun (you don't often have someone use terms like gewgaws and folderals) and pushed me to several clarifications of my own thought that I continued reading to the end. Não é um livro para ser ‹‹lido››, mas estudado — é um livro de referência, porém a leitura é acessível aos leigos. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. It lights up the dim pathways of prehistory and unfolds the story of the slow growth of human expression from the most primitive signs and sounds to the elaborate variations of the highest cultures.

A primeira trata da história natural da linguagem e traz um panorama da história do alfabeto, do uso das flexões e como elas vão decaindo conforme a língua evolui, da sintaxe e da classificação das línguas. Anyways it's not the kind of book I can't read cover to cover but even a partial reading gives you a much better and more holistic sense of how language works. UPDATE: Here are spreadsheets of the Romance Word List, Germanic Word List, and the Greek Roots List from the language museum. If you dream of learning more than one language from the following list, read/skim this book and use the tips.Hogben was educated at Cambridge as a biologist, but never limited himself to a single field of inquiry. Almost all of the practical language-learning material is still fresh, but the terminology used is a bit dated and a lot of the scholarship lacks details and revisions made more recently. I recommend it heartily, but with the caveat that one might get more out of it with some time spent with more recent linguistics before diving in.

The authors really take this to heart and work towards basic vocabularies analogous to the Word List of Basic English. You are going to make mistakes and fall into traps no matter what, so don’t get discouraged by exceptions. I have been interested in languages since my big sister started learning her first foreign language and I realized there is such a thing.

Essa consciência é obtida através do estudo da evolução das línguas e da análise das peculiaridades do nosso próprio idioma.