Peter Farb

The author views language as complex systems of grammar and human behavior and demonstrates the ways in which they interact through extensive examples

What Happens when People Talk

Word Play

Why do certain words make us blush or wince? Why do men and women really speak different languages? Why do nursery rhymes in vastly different societies possess similar rhyme and rhythm patterns? What do slang, riddles and puns secretly have in common? This erudite yet irresistibly readable book examines the game of language: its players, strategies, and hidden rules. Drawing on the most fascinating linguistic studies—and touching on everything from the Marx Brothers to linguistic sexism, from the phenomenon of glossolalia to Apache names for automobile parts—Word Play shows what really happens when people talk, no matter what language they happen to be using.

What Happens When People Talk

بنو الإنسان

Man's rise to civilisation, as shown by the Indians of North America fromprimeval times to the coming of the industrial state

Synthesizes the latest findings in the social sciences to provide a portrait of the evolution, biology, behavior, needs, adaptations, myths, and societies of man

Peter Farb

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