This holiday season, turn page to the new world of words

By Nathan Bierma
"On Language"
Chicago Tribune
December 21, 2005

'Tis the season of year-end lists and last-minute shopping, so here are the 10 best language books of 2005:

10. "Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods" by Michael Wex (St. Martin's Press, 320 pages, $24.95). Wex takes a colorful look at Yiddish words and phrases for food, sex and other things to kvetch about, providing a lively addition to Dovid Katz's more straightforward history published last year: "Words on Fire: The Unfinished Story of Yiddish" (Basic Books, 430 pages, $26.95).

9. "A Natural History of Latin: The Story of the World's Most Successful Language" by Tore Janson (Oxford University Press, 305 pages, $24). What a long, strange trip it's been for Latin, from its origins in Rome to its use in the medieval church to its current job helping us name new technology ("television," "video," "digital"). Janson tells this intriguing story as well as anyone.

8. "Bad Language: Are Some Words Better Than Others?" by Edwin L. Battistella (Oxford University Press, 240 pages, $29.95). This book reminds us that language is the basis of the last acceptable prejudice: There is no snobbery as safe as looking down your nose at people for their grammar, vocabulary or accent. As Battistella shows, this kind of condescension often comes from misunderstandings and myths about the way language works. An even better myth-buster is still the 1999 book "Language Myths," edited by Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill (Penguin, 188 pages, $14).

7. "The Handbook of Historical Linguistics" edited by Brian D. Joseph and Richard D. Janda (Blackwell, 881 pages, $52.95). The paperback release of this hefty collection of reputable academic papers cuts the price of the hardcover by about two-thirds. The rich compilation includes sections on how languages change in sound, meaning, word structure and sentence structure, and illustrates arguably the most fascinating aspect of language -- its inherent tendency to change over time.

6. "Word Origins and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone" by Anatoly Liberman (Oxford University Press, 312 pages, $25). The erudite and winsome Liberman explains his work as an etymologist, which includes historical cases to crack and tall tales to debunk.

5. "Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World" by Nicholas Ostler (HarperCollins, 615 pages, $29.95). This comprehensive history gives a thorough treatment of once-dominant world languages, such as Akkadian, Phoenician and Sansrkit, that have long faded from view. Don't miss Ostler's section on puns in Sanskrit.

4. "How Children Learn Language" by William O'Grady (Cambridge University Press, 248 pages, $24.99). O'Grady explores a linguistic mystery: Adults struggle to learn a new language, but children are masters of language-learning. This is the rare linguistics textbook written with such clarity and personal touch that any parent can read and enjoy it.

3. "The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention" by Guy Deutscher(Metropolitan Books, 358 pages, $26). Deutscher's chatty, quirky history of language answers this vexing question: If they weren't invented by anyone, then how did intricate systems of word endings, word order and pronunciation develop?

2. "The New Oxford American Dictionary," 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2,051 pages, $60). The magnum opus of Chicago-based dictionary editor Erin McKean and her team of lexicographers includes 2,000 new entries since NOAD's 2001 debut. It's also the first major dictionary to come with an electronic version for hand-held devices.

1. "The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style" (Houghton Mifflin, 512 pages, $19.95). You have a dictionary on your shelf, but often what you really need isn't a technical definition but good advice on usage. This clearly laid out and knowledgeably explained guide, with more than 1,000 alphabetized entries, sets itself apart by putting pickiness in perspective -- it tells you how strong objections are to breaking certain taboos, and whether those taboos are based on good grammatical reasoning or just snooty customs. Bargain hunters should note that this hardcover is well worth more than twice the price.

A similarly valuable but more technical guide released this year is "A Student's Introduction to English Grammar" (Cambridge University Press, 312 pages, $29.99), by the authors of the monumental "Cambridge Grammar of the English Language."

Honorable Mentions:

"The American Heritage Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs" (Houghton Mifflin, 480 pages, $19.95).

"Conversational Style: Analyzing Talk Among Friends" by Deborah Tannen (Oxford University Press, 244 pages, $19.95).

"One-Letter Words: A Dictionary," by Craig Conley (HarperCollins, 272 pages, $16.95).

"The Thinker's Thesaurus: Sophisticated Alternatives to Common Words" by Peter Meltzer (Marion Street Press, 460 pages, $29.95).

Books to look for in 2006:

"The American Heritage Dictionary," 4th edition (updated version) and "The American Heritage First Dictionary" (for 5- to 8-year-olds), both from Houghton Mifflin.

"The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction Terms," from Oxford University Press.

"British or American English? A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns," by John Algeo, from Cambridge University Press.

"Language Variation and Change in the American Midland: A New Look at `Heartland' English," edited by Thomas Murray and Beth Lee Simon, from John Benjamins Publishing.

"English Words: A Linguistic Introduction" by Heidi Harley, from Blackwell Publishing.

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Contact Nathan Bierma at onlanguage@gmail.com

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