Reviews and Recommendations; November / December 2010; Scientific American Mind; by Melinda Wenner Moyer; Nicole Branan; Ferris Jabr; Frank Bures; 2 Page(s)

Through the Language Glass
by Guy Deutscher. Metropolitan Books (Macmillan), 2010

Do we see the world differently depending on which language we speak? In the 19th century researchers assumed that people were unable to grasp concepts if there were no words in their language to describe them. This idea was largely debunked, however, in the late 20th century, when linguists concluded that it is possible to describe any concept in any language, given enough effort and time. But as Guy Deutscher argues in his new book, our mother tongue may still shape our worldviews, not because of what its speakers are able to express but because of what its speakers are forced to express.