Product Description
There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago.While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, linguistics professor John McWhorter reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment. Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, Creoles, and nonstandard dialects.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 52 reviews)

Language in all of its peculiarities by JOHN A. BROUSSARD (Kamuela, HI USA)

5 Stars
July 30, 2009
For anyone with the least interest in that mysterious human quality called "language" this is the book for you. The marginally curious can skim through it and pick out the gems in the midst of the much the more detailed examination of humankind's current stock of 6,000 languages. For those who are fascinated by the sciene of linguistics and want more than a cursory examination of what it has to offer, this book is a treasure. But McWorther's mastery of his mother tongue is what makes this work truly fascinating. It measures up to his outstanding lectures made for the Teaching Company.

how languages change by Min Jeong Lee

5 Stars
January 28, 2009
The book starts from the idea that there was an original language, back when humans came to be. This seems to me, a non-linguist, to be rather speculative, but McWhorter gives a few arguments for that, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. The most interesting parts of the book are those that detail the ways in which languages change over time. It turns out that most of the change is random, and has little to do with culture. McWhorter gives 5 ways in which languages change: the first involves the tendency of unaccented vowels to get dropped over time, such that the Latin 'femina' becomes 'femme' in French. The other interesting parts of the book have to do with the way languages break down (in pidgin) and get recreated (as creoles). The new language has very streamlined grammar, which leads people like McWhorter to speculate that the first, original language, was likewise streamlined. There are many other fascinating tidbits in this book, but, overall, I enjoyed the grand picture: that of language as almost an organic process of perpetual (but regular and understandable) change. Enjoy!

Rudimentary and flippant -- why did I buy this? by D. Kimball

2 Stars
January 21, 2009
This book is written at an _extremely_ rudimentary level; everything covered here can be learned much more easily and concisely, with a much less galling and obnoxious authorial voice, in any halfway-decent discussion of language. In my case, I found that already being familiar with the "Language Construction Kit" ([...]), oriented towards the building of fictional languages, gave me enough grounding that this was like reading Dr. Seuss after learning feline biology, or reading Jared Diamond after reading Fernand Braudel. In a word: If you the vaguest idea what a creole is, or know that sounds change regularly over time, or recognize the word 'ablaut,' you'll find yourself wasting your time with this book -- especially when McWorter irresponsibly endorses Proto-World. For those not familiar with the subject already, there is some useful information here, but the sheer level of flippancy would be galling nonetheless; I recommend the Language Construction Kit and a good biography of JRR Tolkien (or, better, Tom Shippey's _The Road to Middle-Earth_) instead.

Adam Spoke Creole by Eric Maroney (Brooktondale, NY)

4 Stars
November 06, 2008
John McWhorter's fascinating book on the transformation of languages, The Power of Babel, explores how language changes through time, the mechanisms behind those changes, and the essential mutability of this thing we all use, all the time, human verbal communication. Readable, though at times dense, McWhorter is not afraid to mix semi-complex discussions of linguistics with various subjects, from comic books to popular songs. Perhaps his most interesting suggestion is on the subject of the first language. What language did the first Homo Sapiens who evolved in Africa over 150,000 years ago speak? McWhorter finds reconstructions of this language based on current languages without merit. Languages are too mutable for that; he posits that the first language probably resembled today's "creole" languages. Pidgin and Creoles, the stew which creates new languages, was the basis of the six thousand languages spoken today. Add time, distance, and the human mutability, and we have a post-babel world

Objective Attainable by Mupi

4 Stars
October 13, 2008
Dr. McWhorter successfully, in his own right, presents his information as an historical series of linguistic sparks, any one of which can induce further reading in other places. His style and copious examples follow the inter- and intra-connectivities and patterns of language itself. His humor, though not well captured personally in print, portray a genuine interest in his non-linguist audience. I highly recommend purchasing his DVD lectures to appreciate his personality and passion, not to mention greater detail to language study.

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