Don't Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language.

Shariatmadari, David. Don't Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language. New York: Norton, 2019.

We all drive or ride in cars, yet few of us know what is going on under the hood. Same thing with language; we all use it, yet few of us know the mechanisms behind it. This book tries to remedy that situation through an analysis of nine widely held myths about language and a discussion of some basic insights of modern linguistics.

One of those insights, described in the sentence following this one, has to do with the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, which is well known in general semantics and contains the notion that the language you speak determines the boundaries of your thought. That hypothesis has been largely discredited among linguists, although the idea that linguistic structures subtly influence thought has been demonstrated in many experiments.

Another insight has to do with Noam Chomsky's belief that language is hardwired into the human brain (that belief was captured in Steven Pinker's 1994 book The Language Instinct). But, as the author of this book points out, linguists today are finding more evidence that although language is only possible because of the ways our brain has developed, it's not a specialized "organ" as Pinker and Chomsky claim. Rather it comes into being because of capabilities evolved for other purposes (this notion is more fully developed in "usage-based" theories that put the emphasis back on language in the "real world").

Other topics discussed in this book include the following: through the centuries, people have been complaining that the younger generation is causing language to go to the dogs; meaning is in people (and how they use words) rather than, a la Wittgenstein, in the words themselves; humans are in a league of their own when it comes to the ability to communicate complex ideas across the generations (think timebinding); and many would argue that we are as far as ever from the kind of AI that would be able to speak convincingly like a human and not be derailed by the oblique way people sometimes talk (think sarcasm, allusions, double entenders, etc.).

Don't Believe a Word offers a lighthearted, but seriously researched, look at the underpinnings of language and how it is constantly changing. I found it an educational and enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

Jaison Tremain has worked in Information Technology since 2007 and currently works for a restaurant equipment supplier as a Business Intelligence specialist. For the past two years, he has been active with the Australian General Semantics (AGS) group.