Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love

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.