The Five-Minute Linguist: Bite-Sized Essays on Language and Languages

Based on Talkin' About Talk, an engaging radio series on language that received a special 'Year of Languages' award, this book consists of 60 short (3-5pp) chapters on intriguing questions such as "How many languages are there in the world?" "What causes foreign accents?" and "What language did Adam and Eve speak?" Written by leading language professionals, with a Foreword by Bret Lovejoy, Executive Director of ACTFL, The Five-Minute Linguist takes a fresh approach to making accurate and up-to-date knowledge about language accessible for an audience of intelligent non-specialists. CD's from the radio show are available at www.cofc.edu/linguist. Sample Chapters and Authors Is there a language crisis in the U.S.? Catherine Ingold Do we think differently today about language learning? June Phillips Why do languages change? John McWhorter What does it take to learn a language well? Nina Garrett What is "speaking in tongues"? Walt Wolfram Is Spanish taking over the U.S.? Maria Carreira What ever happened to Esperanto? E.M. "Rick" Rickerson Did German almost become the language of the U.S.? Nancy Nenno Is elementary school too early to teach foreign languages? Gladys Lipton Should we be studying Russian? Benjamin Rifkin Paperback $12.95 and £9.99 ISBN: 184553199X, 288 pp Published by Equinox Publishing Ltd www.equinoxpub.com and available in North America from David Brown Book Company, PO Box 511, Oakville, CT 06779 Tel 800 791 9354 or 860 945 9329 Fax 860 945 9468 www.oxbowbooks.com