Linguaphile

Starred review from August 1, 2024
A remarkable book about how language is an essential trait of human beings--and also one of the most mysterious. In her fourth book, Sedivy, a Canadian academic specializing in linguistics and psychology and the author ofMemory Speaks andLanguage in Mind, takes a personal tack, recounting how her life has been focused on the search for the essence of language. She grew up speaking several different tongues, which made her particularly sensitive to the twists and turns of language and how words connect to social conventions and the formation of identities. Eventually, "English would come to dominate all the others, jostling its way to the front of everything." She cites research investigating why certain sounds, such asl andm, seem to make words more attractive, whilet andd have the opposite effect. Our understanding of language changes over the course of our lives, starting with infants struggling to knit the words together. Sedivy notes that her own grasp of meaning has become richer as she has entered middle age, even as she occasionally forgets a word or two. Along the way, the author explains how poets and novelists think about language in unusual ways, the differences between spoken and written language, and how deaf people have developed a complex syntax and vocabulary for signing. Throughout the text, Sedivy interweaves her professional observations with recollections of how she communicated, or failed to communicate, with important figures in her life. In the end, she discovers the answers she has been searching for, realizing the simplicity and necessity of saying the right words to draw us together. Her love of her subject shines through in her graceful writing, resulting in a pleasing, sometimes beguiling read. Sedivy blends a tender memoir with a fascinating study of how language defines the human condition.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from September 2, 2024
Language scientist Sedivy (Memory Speaks) delivers a rapturous essay collection in which scientific research comingles with recollections of the author’s childhood as a Czechoslovakian refugee. “By the age of five, due to my family’s winding trajectory through Europe and eventually Canada, five languages had seeped into my brain,” Sedivy writes—Czech, German, Italian, French, and English. In 12 essays across three sections (“Childhood,” “Maturity,” and “Loss”), she catalogs the influence of language on different phases of her life, expertly knitting together factual details with lyrical anecdotes. At one point, Sedivy posits that humans are, in some ways, more like songbirds than primates, describing the former as “our kindred patternmakers and imitators of sound.” Elsewhere, she examines the significance and cultural endurance of the moment when Helen Keller spelled out the word for water. Sedivy also turns her keen sense of observation on herself, capturing her excitement during her first linguistics class (“I had not imagined it possible to look under the surface of language,” she writes, detailing how she thrilled to the “concealed order” under the “membrane of conscious awareness”), and providing a fascinating window onto historical fears about the “dangers of bilingualism, which, some claimed, could lead... to schizophrenia or intellectual disability.” For lovers of the written and spoken word, this enchanting study is a must.

September 1, 2024

Canadian linguist Sedivy (Memory Speaks: On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self; Language in Mind: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics) offers a series of essays about stages of life, such as childhood, aging, and loss. Sedivy utilizes her expertise in linguistics and psychology to weave scientific studies into stories about her own life experiences. The scientific parts are accessible to nonspecialists, primarily due to the way Sedivy connects them to real-life experiences and people. Many of the essays are profoundly beautiful, speaking to elements of humanity. When she was a child, her parents moved their family from their native Czechoslovakia to Austria, then Italy, and finally Canada, initially to French-speaking Montreal. Thus, by the age of five, she had absorbed elements of five languages. She intended to become a writer but became enthralled with the study of language, which beautifully informs every essay. She ends the book with the death of her brother, Vac, from pancreatic cancer at age 50 and the way his words and being still flow within her own body. VERDICT A book about language, built by a skilled architect employing the most artful uses of words. This thought-provoking book is a lovely addition to any collection.--Caren Nichter

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2024
Linguist Sedivy follows her 2021 book Memory Speaks with an engaging examination of how language is absorbed, learned, and communicated throughout the human lifetime. Sedivy is especially interested in the complex interaction between language and time, sharing insights from philosophers, writers, cognitive scientists, and her own research. She intersperses this with memories of her own lifelong love of language. Her birth language was Czech; by age five she had been immersed in German, Italian, English, and French; English became dominant as she grew up in the United States. Taking retrospective stock of youthful misunderstandings between herself and her parents, she sees these misunderstandings as the effect of language disparity rather than disapproval. Age-related issues, especially the "tip of the tongue" phenomenon and hearing loss, as experienced by her mother and herself, are explored as both physical and societal issues. A final section describes how her brother's vocabulary shrank to one powerfully communicative word as he neared the end of life. This reflection on language will appeal to those who marvel at communication in all its forms.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.