The Sound Shape of Language

Download or read book The Sound Shape of Language written by Roman Jakobson and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2002 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading this volume transported me back to Harvard and MIT lecture halls of the 1960s, where weekly Roman Jakobson would spellbind his audience (this reviewer included), developing his vision of language through impassioned exposition, deft and devastating allusions to critical literature, anecdotes with the force of parables, metaphors of mythic imagery, and above all else overriding verbal artistry: truly in his own phrase, 'In the poetry of grammar'. The Sound Shape of Language, his collaboration with Linda R. Waugh, a scholar who has devoted considerable attention to an exposition and elaboration of Jakobsonian views, fortunately has preserved in print the authoritative lectorial voice. Michael Silverstein in Journal of Communication