000			01630nam a2200229Ia 4500
003			NULRC
005			20250520103031.0
008			250520s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a9781781257715
040			_cNULRC
050			_aP 51 .A35 2021
100			_aAikhenvald, Alexandra Y. _eauthor
245		0	_aI Saw the dog : _bhow language works / _cAlexandra Y. Aikhenvald
260			_aLondon, United Kingdom : _bProfile Books Ltd., _cc2021
300			_a176 pages ; _c22 cm.
365			_bPHP945
504			_aIncludes index.
505			_aPrelude: the essence of languages -- What is language good for? -- The prism of language -- Similar and different -- On the brink.
520			_aEvery language in the world shares a few common features: we can ask a question, say something belongs to us, and tell someone what to do. But beyond that, our languages are richly and almost infinitely varied: a French speaker can't conceive of a world that isn't split into un and une, male and female, while Estonians have only one word for both men and women: tema. In Dyirbal, an Australian language, things might be masculine, feminine, neuter - or edible vegetable. Every language tells us something about the people who use it. In I Saw the Dog, linguist Alexandra Aikhenvald takes us from the remote swamplands of Papua New Guinea to the university campuses of North America to illuminate the vital importance of names, the value of being able to say exactly what you mean, what language can tell us about what it means to be human - and what we lose when they disappear forever.
650			_aLINGUISTICS
942			_2lcc _cBK
999			_c21909 _d21909