---
product_id: 12820779
title: "What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be"
brand: "john mcwhorter"
price: "R$303"
currency: BRL
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 11
url: https://www.desertcart.com.br/products/12820779-what-language-is-and-what-it-isnt-and-what-it
store_origin: BR
region: Brazil
---

# What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be

**Brand:** john mcwhorter
**Price:** R$303
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be by john mcwhorter
- **How much does it cost?** R$303 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.br](https://www.desertcart.com.br/products/12820779-what-language-is-and-what-it-isnt-and-what-it)

## Best For

- john mcwhorter enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted john mcwhorter brand quality
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## Description

What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be

## Images

![What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be - Image 1](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51M5PrjOQCL.jpg)
![What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be - Image 2](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31Qq1-RjNdL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Compelling, and endlessly interesting
  

*by M***N on Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2020*

In my opinion, Dr. John McWhorter is one of the best, if not the best, linguists around in terms of teaching and writing ability. He is a professor of linguistics and Western Civilization at Columbia, he teaches several courses in the “Great Courses” series, he is a contributing editor at “The New Republic”, he has an on-line blog, he appears widely in the media, and he has authored over a dozen books, including “What Language Is”, “Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue”, “Words on the Move”, and “The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language”. Aside from linguistics, his second major interest deals with race in America, and he is widely called upon to offer his (usually unorthodox) views on this subject.  He has a lot to say about African-American Vernacular English, or Ebonics. He is also a singer and a pianist, and he is very interested in, and conversant with popular culture. I have learned more from this man than from anyone else I can think of. His particular area of expertise in linguistics is pidgin/creole languages, a subject on which he has produced many scholarly works (which I find incomprehensible) but which are published in linguistic professional journals for other linguists. But this specialization does not prevent him from offering up any number of different aspects of linguistics in a manner that is perfectly clear and readily understandable. He also has a sense of humor (which is not to everyone’s taste) and often offers quips and asides. In this book he offers "a provocative look at how languages originate, divide, and work".

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    An entertaining read, but with a serious argument at its core
  

*by M***R on Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2016*

A fun, engaging tour of the world's languages, the book manages to make serious arguments about language whilst remaining a quick and entertaining read. The text is full of interesting examples from both well known and much more obscure languages, but this adds up to a lot more than just a cabinet of linguistic curiosities; the author uses the examples to argue that many of the claims made about the relative 'worth' of languages ('written languages are more sophisticated than oral ones', '"big" languages like English are richer than "small" languages spoken by isolated groups') simply aren't supported by the evidence.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    I love everything John McWhorter writes
  

*by L***Z on Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2018*

I love everything John McWhorter writes.  He writes at the perfect level for non linguists who want to know about languages and I I recommend his books to my students all the time.

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*Product available on Desertcart Brazil*
*Store origin: BR*
*Last updated: 2026-02-22*