Non-Fiction books about language

The following books are all a good mixture of being informative and entertaining to read. They start from the more general and get into more specific topics as the list goes down.

1. How Language Works by David Crystal https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/688999.How_Language_Works?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=EWYOgkfA5N&rank=1
2. The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way by Bill Bryson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29.The_Mother_Tongue?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=bfeCFQlF6V&rank=1
3. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English by John McWhorter https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3143472-our-magnificent-bastard-tongue?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=L6UWwF2BvD&rank=1
4. The Language Instinct by Steven Pinkner https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5755.The_Language_Instinct?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=jJNXDJoLuz&rank=1
5. That’s not English: Britishisms, Americanisms and what or English says about us by Erin Moore https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571553-that-s-not-english?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=aVjDa2xzfF&rank=1
6. Through the Language Glass: why the world looks different in other languages by Guy Deutscher https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8444621-through-the-language-glass?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=4ZBjztOD3B&rank=1
7. The Everyday Language of White Racism by Jane H. Hill https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5470688-the-everyday-language-of-white-racism?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=1wSZ7inKNc&rank=1
8. Holy sh*t: A brief history of swearing by Melissa Mohr https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26720951-holy-shit?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=CGuyx82AAB&rank=2

Top Novels which explore the theme of language

1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41817486-a-clockwork-orange
2. 1984 by George Orwell https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5470.1984?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8IqR2lF5PP&rank=1
3. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/135836.Trainspotting?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=bOS7xxvI79&rank=1
4. Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delany https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1199688.Babel_17?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Ib23ivUUC2&rank=1
5. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6324090-alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=1cAogvv2nh&rank=1

Textbooks

OCR A Level English Language: Student Book

This has been designed and put together to support you with the course. Whilst you can’t rely on it alone to succeed, it serves a strong introduction to the key topics and will be a very useful text to support your revision of topics.

• Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/OCR-Level-English-Language-Student/dp/0198352778

Films

Arrival

A powerful story about the power of communication and how language reflects our culture and unique ways of thinking.

• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFMo3UJ4B4g

Radio

Word of Mouth is a BBC Radio 4 programme which explores a range of language topics in 30 minute episodes. The episodes below are the most topically relevant to what is covered at A-Level.

Good introduction talk!

• Stephen Fry on why the English Language is everything! https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bh454p

Spoken English

• Real Talk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dy62
• How to talk funny: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00020ys
• Accent and dialect: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s4g7g
• Are we all speaking football? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b095rrzx
• Small Talk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wby0n
• Lying: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dfpy
• Slang: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06wd268
• The new etiquette of spoken language: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09plwxh

Language and Technology

• How Siri and Alexa are programmed to talk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b0pw1w

Emoji: the future of English: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ffvp6

• Textspeak: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dtvk3

Language and Gender

• Language and gender identity: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09r4k4l

Language Change

• The Americanisation of English: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08g5533
• Anglo Saxon: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007ww2
• French influence on English: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08lh6r1
• How is English going to change in the future? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04wtzzk
• Vikings: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00074j4
• Multicultural London English: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000mk0

Child Language Development

• First words: how do children develop language?: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v382j
• How do parents speak to their children?: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05077ks

Other

• Metaphors: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d1z9
• Communicating Climate Change: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d719
• Wild Words: The language of wildlife and the landscape: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09794s4
• The Language of Science: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007qzf
• Philosophy in English: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007bd0
• Solving Crime with Forensic Linguistics: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00027n6
• The language of the courtroom: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000256g