In the past year many good and interesting language books have been published. Books that I seriously shortchange by merely pointing them out here as potential gifts for the holidays, but it’s no different.
The language book published this week is immediately the boldest: Germanist Jelle Stegeman describes the Great history of the Dutch language (Amsterdam University Press, 1,282 pp., €79). As late as 1930, the New Rotterdamsche Courant the demise of our language, but things turned out differently: nowadays more than 24 million people speak Dutch. Beautiful biography of our language, accessiblely written and beautifully published.
Just as beautifully published Translate in the Netherlands. A cultural history (Boom, 656 pp., €49.95). Several authors show how incredibly important translations have been for the shaping of our culture and society: from the Middle Ages to the present. Never before has the history of translation in the Netherlands and Flanders been explained so thoroughly.
In the lexicon Words of color (De Nieuwe Vaart, 250 pages, € 24.60 incl. shipping) the sociologist Buck Goudriaan charts one of the most sensitive language developments of the moment: racism and anti-racism in our vocabulary.
We find a happier subject in The funniest grammar mistakes in class (Ploegsma, 160 pp., € 14.99) by ‘Master Mark’. Appnormal, iebietsaa, aaipet, oomijkot – delicious!
WF Hermans
The corona pandemic is not only disrupting our society, but also causing an explosion of new words. Vivien Waszink and Veronique de Tier describe it in an entertaining and solid way Cuddle contact & Waterwappie (Scriptum, 174 pp., € 14.99).
I think it’s a surprising book Outdated truth? Sense and nonsense of proverbs (In Book form, 152 pp., € 20.00). Young scientists from various disciplines investigate the truth behind twenty well-known proverbs. Do gentle surgeons really make stinking wounds? Beautifully illustrated, with a foreword by Erik Scherder.
Lovers of WF Hermans – born a hundred years ago this year – can indulge themselves at “There’s only one real word.” WF Hermans as language maker (De Weideblik, 104 pp., € 12.50) by Ton den Boon. Hermans was a stubborn language viewer with a great talent for coming up with catchy book titles. Were winged, among other things Out of countless millions, Among professors and The sadistic universe.
Also for lovers of Drs. P. is it a good language year: edited by Jaap Bakker The Weal and Woe of Drs. p. (Noblesse Publishers, 216 pp., € 25.99). Authors such as Wim Daniëls, Ivo de Wijs and Erik van Muiswinkel examine the creativity of this word artist. With several photos of Dr.
The queen of historical linguistics has long been Nicoline van der Sijs. This year she released two books: Finding and making language laws (Sterck & De Vreese, 622 pp., € 39.95): a splendid study on the origin of Standard Dutch. And, from the same publisher: What’s happening in Dutch?! (320 pp., € 24.95) a collection of contributions by sixty researchers from the Netherlands, Flanders and Suriname on language, frequency and variation.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/a-lot-of-good-language-books-in-2021/
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