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"Language Families of the World" by Professor John McWhorter

book review by Riley Burnham 4/25/2023

really really good; fascinating

this is a series of lectures by an articulate, passionate professor who appears to know his stuff

we're treated to many many language examples, their construction [things like word order, vowel & consonant composition, etc.], their dispersion [he uses the highest blend of multiple languages to determine the origin of particulars; so where XYZ was spoken amongst most others is likely its starting point, or close to it], & something like a measure of difficulty

​​​​​​​it's worth noting, he states frankly that all languages have a built-in complexity; so even the 'easiest' ones are going to have mountains to climb & twisting points

he also explains that often the easiest, most accessible languages are those adopted as a second language by older folks, as they strip them down to comprehensible bits, & so forth...

a funny part was his saying that if you see someone reading Japanese writing (newspaper), to hug them & kiss their feet, for they are doing something extremely difficult -- that being because Japanese writing interchanges 3 systems gloriously (a little Chinese, a little Japanese, a little romaji)

basically, this was a refreshing & worthwhile course, & was a page-turner