BookBrowse Reviews Linguaphile by Julie Sedivy

BookBrowse:

Linguist Julie Sedivy combines science and memoir to explore language's central place in life and culture.

From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with the dying, human life and language are intimately intertwined. Linguist Julie Sedivy's new book, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love, explores this connection through a fascinating combination of linguistic science and the author's own life story.

The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, "Childhood," Sedivy discusses how humans develop language as children, including how infants can recognize patterns in their native tongue long before they understand its meaning, and how children make judgement calls about who to trust when learning based on "constant testing." The science is accompanied by Sedivy's memories of her own childhood language adventures and misadventures: growing up immersed in multiple languages, first as a refugee in Europe and then as an immigrant in Canada; running away from what she thought were giant rabbits due to her then shaky grasp of Italian; being mad at her mother after a miscommunication (when young Julie asked her if she was pretty, her mom responded, "It's more important to be smart than pretty"). Sedivy's ability to connect personal experiences to scientific research—and to explain the science in a clear and understandable way—makes for a compelling read.

In the second section, "Maturity," Sedivy focuses on adult life, including the ways in which adults manage uncertainty and time while talking, unconsciously extrapolating possible conclusions to words and sentences as they listen. In one of the studies she conducted, she used a device to track subjects' eyes as they heard the sentence "Pick up the candle": the subjects often glanced at a candle midway through the final word, but had no memory of doing so, or of considering the candle at all, when they were interviewed after the session. Sedivy links this split-second consideration to the end of her first marriage—a short, tumultuous period in which her life could have gone in two very different directions before resolving into the path she chose. She also explores, here, the pleasure she takes in beautiful language. "Beautiful words cause my saliva to run," she writes. "I suck on them like fruit drops."

"Maturity" also expands outwards into societal topics and complexities, not just personal ones. As a female academic, Sedivy has experienced her fair share of sexism and shares in her book her struggle to be taken seriously as a woman in science; for example, she once overheard a conversation suggesting that her pregnancy indicated a lack of dedication to her career. She also shares her thoughts on why "speaking for success" is not as simple as people think—partly because different people apply multiple standards to success based on their own life experiences—and on the trend in publishing for "plain speech," a style that pares down wordy language, like that of Marcel Proust or Henry James, which can be more difficult to understand, but is often beautiful because of its intricacy.

The final section, "Loss," deals with the effects of aging on speaking and hearing—both positive, such as a widely expanded vocabulary, and negative, such as hearing loss and its isolating social effects, as those affected are less able to follow and participate in conversations. Sedivy also reflects on her own aging and the losses she has experienced, including her changing relationship with her father's memory and an incredibly moving account of her brother's death.

As Sedivy points out, language is about connecting people, so it's fitting that the memoir sections of Linguaphile are focused more on the relationships in her life than on specific events. She explores both the good and the bad in her connections with her parents, husbands, siblings, and friends, and in doing so, evokes the compelling complexity of human life. The titular love of language, as well, is apparent throughout the book; Sedivy explores both the science and the beauty of language in a way that celebrates both, and in a way that will make the reader pause to reflect on her own experiences of language and connection.

This review first ran in the November 6, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.