LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 5 May 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

HOME PAGE

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIAL

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Contributors from South Asia may e-mail their articles to
    B. Mallikarjun,
    Central Institute of Indian Languages,
    Manasagangotri,
    Mysore 570006, India     mallikarjun@ciil.stpmy.soft.net.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2010
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

A Little Book of Language by David Crystal
(New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Pvt. Ltd., 2010)

A Review by Dr. Arun K Behera, Ph.D.

Cover Page of David Crystal's A Little Book of Language

David Crystal is a colossus of a linguist. He has authored, co authored or edited more than 120 books on varied subjects, including his monumental work The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. His recent book A Little Book of Language, however, is a manual sort of a thing. It can be of as much relevance for a layman who does not know what linguistics is all about as for a specialist studying languages.

One of the most striking features of the book is the chapter-wise dealing of aspects - from a very ordinary, mundane, simple topic to the more specific, complex, specialized areas. It is, in fact this kind of a dealing that makes the reading of the book absorbing and engrossing.

The Structure of the Book

The book containing 260 pages is divided in to 40 chapters, each dealing with one specific issue, e.g., words, pronunciation, grammar, languages, language in literature, linguistics, applied linguistics, etc. Such an organization not only makes the reading enjoyable and comprehension easy, it also frees the reader of being taxed and burdened.

One can pick up a lot of things about language in general and also a number of other aspects without being aware of a learning process. Only writers of such great eminence as Crystal can achieve this with his little book of language, which is not really little from any considerations!

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Arun K. Behera, PDF, Ph.D., AMSPI, PGDJ, DDE, PGDTE, M.A.
Department of English
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
Brindavan Campus
Kadugodi Post
Bangalore - 560067
Karnataka, India
drbehera65@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you either cited or used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian scholarship.