Mother Tongue: How Humans Create Language

Joel Davis' "Mother Tongue" is an excellent overview of language development in people and in cultures. I would recommend this book to anyone with a casual interest in linguistics, in spite of rumoured "historical errors". (As a matter of fact I gave it to my son as a source for his homeschooling work.)Davis is an excellent writer who's friendly, informative approach makes the complexity of his topic fascinating rather than the more usual dense tangle of language most science writers bring to their topics.I finished this 333 page book in less than a week and couldn't put it down!

There are so many egregious historical errors that they undermine one's confidence in the linguistic material. Examples: It is stated that after an initial defeat at Stamford Bridge, William of Normandy defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II at Hastings. Now, Stamford Bridge was a victory for Harold II indeed, but not a defeat for William who was not even involved. There were multiple individual invasions and Harold II's opponent was King Harold III (Hardrada) of Norway who was allied with Earl Tostig, Harald's own traitorous brother. Nor was Harald II the son of Edward the Confessor as is stated. Edward had no issue, which is one reason it was open season on the English crown. Harold II is known to history as Harald Godwinsen, being the son of the Earl Godwin. Other more minor errors: There is a reference to Charles V of Spain, which confuses 2 of the many titles of this monarch, who as Holy Roman Emperor was Charles V, but as King of Spain Charles I. Also, the Spanish Academy could not have been founded in 1713 by Philip IV, since that monarch was long dead. One presumes the Bourbon Philip V was meant. One hopes the reporting of the linguistic material is more careful than the historical. If not ...