| Preface |
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ix | |
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1. There Are 2,796 Languages in the World |
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|
1 | (8) |
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|
9 | (4) |
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3. How Languages Spread and Decline |
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|
13 | (8) |
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4. 1066 and the French Invasion of English |
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|
21 | (6) |
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5. How You Can Turn Thousands of English Words into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, or Dutch |
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|
27 | (6) |
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6. Language, Gender, and Sex |
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|
33 | (8) |
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7. Language Incidents That Changed History |
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41 | (8) |
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8. Rallying Cries of Conquest, Defiance, or Prayer |
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49 | (4) |
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9. Words of Love and Admiration |
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|
53 | (6) |
| 10. Insults and Profanity around the World |
|
59 | (6) |
| 11. Ethnic Slurs and Their Comparatively Innocent Origins |
|
65 | (6) |
| 12. Same Sounds-Different Meanings |
|
71 | (6) |
| 13. Language Survival and Survival through Language |
|
77 | (12) |
| 14. Clicks, Whistles, Gestures, and Musical Scales |
|
89 | (10) |
| 15. Counting-Fingers, Toes, and Computers |
|
99 | (10) |
| 16. Our Mysterious Alphabet |
|
109 | (10) |
| 17. An Asian Script of Subtlety and Humor |
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119 | (6) |
| 18. Languages Lost-and Found Again |
|
125 | (12) |
| 19. Word Frequency and Some Surprises |
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137 | (4) |
| 20. Some Evocative Names for Animals |
|
141 | (4) |
| 21. Do Animals Have a Language? |
|
145 | (8) |
| 22. Undiplomatic Translations |
|
153 | (6) |
| 23. What's in a Name: Places |
|
159 | (10) |
| 24. What's in a Name: People |
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169 | (12) |
| 25. The View from the Tribe |
|
181 | (8) |
| 26. There Were Others before Columbus |
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189 | (10) |
| 27. The Local Coloring of Proverbs |
|
199 | (8) |
| 28. The Levels of Politeness |
|
207 | (10) |
| 29. Hello and Goodbye |
|
217 | (6) |
| 30. The World's Shortest Phrasebook in the Most Languages |
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223 | (12) |
| 31. Odd Origins and Changing Meanings |
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235 | (10) |
| 32. Palindromes, Nonstop Words, Tongue Twisters, and Historic Puns |
|
245 | (8) |
| 33. The Language of Revolution |
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253 | (10) |
| 34. Military Codes and Linguistic Deceptions |
|
263 | (8) |
| 35. Secret Languages, Crime, and Slang |
|
271 | (10) |
| 36. Languages in Space |
|
281 | (8) |
| 37. English vs. American |
|
289 | (6) |
| 38. The Export of English Words |
|
295 | (10) |
| 39. Someday-a World Language |
|
305 | (15) |
| Acknowledgments |
|
320 | (1) |
| Index |
|
321 | |
