Memory Speaks

At once an eloquent memoir, a wide-ranging commentary on cultural diversity, and an expert distillation of the research on language learning, loss, and recovery. * The Economist * Engrossing and poignant. -- Irina Dumitrescu * Times Literary Supplement * Engagingly describes the disorienting and sometimes shattering experience of feeling ones native language atrophy as a new language takes hold[A] beautifully written bookSedivy elegantly captures why the language(s) we use are so dear to us and how they play a central role in our identities. If we believe multilingualism is valuable, then we must work to preserve language contexts while embracing linguistic diversity. -- Fernanda Ferreira * Science * As a child trying to fit in with her new surroundings, Sedivy quickly forgot much of her CzechRelearning Czech as an adult offered redemption, and Sedivys book is in part an account of how through that act of learning she has found ways to bind disparate aspects of her identityBeyond the striking anecdotes from her own biography, Sedivys book is at its best when she brings insights from psycholinguistics to the page. -- Gavin Francis * New York Review of Books * In this insightful and informative analysis, Julie Sedivy examines what happens to memory, dreams, and even the sense of self when you enter another language. It is a book which speaks to the condition of countless people who have changed language and culture in our globalized world. -- Eva Hoffman, author of <i>Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language</i> Julie Sedivys book is not just a study of what it means to cradle more than one language or more than one culture, perhaps even more than one identityit is a profound elegy to memories that endure despite displacement and the many time zones that define our lives. -- Andr Aciman, author of <i>Homo Irrealis: Essays</i> [A] moving and deeply personal accountSedivy also makes a case for saving endangered languagesThe connection between language and memory isbeautifully renderedAn astute, thoughtful volume. * Publishers Weekly * With implications for communities and identities, Memory Speaks is an astute linguistic investigation, showing that language is something both in people and of them. * Foreword Reviews (starred review) * One of the finest books I have ever read about language: a wise and humane amalgam of poetry and scientific rigor, rooted in Julie Sedivys deeply-felt personal experience. Full of compassion and sharp-edged insights, Memory Speaks will touch all of us who care about the tongues we speak and about the countless tongues now falling into oblivion. -- Mark Abley, author of <i>Spoken Here: Travels among Threatened Languages</i> At last, a go-to book on bilingualism and why it matters. One part science and one part personal history, Sedivys book guides us through the eternal question of how we handle two or more languages. It leaves us monolinguals looking deprived rather than as the default. -- John H. McWhorter, author of <i>Nine Nasty Words: English in the GutterThen, Now, and Forever</i> Beautifully told. It is also packed with a tour of the science on bilingualism, in which [Sedivy] is an expert, as well as the controversial topic of how ones native language influences thought. As if that were not enough for this fascinating book, sheilluminates what is lost when a language dies. * The Economist * FascinatingIn a panoramic vista of how we inhabit language and how it inhabits us, with openness and curiosity, Sedivy studies the process of losing ones language and also provides several paths to reviving and reclaiming ones lost self. -- Aqsa Ijaz * Dawn * A graceful blend of personal memoir with the authors scholarly field of psycholinguistics, Memory Speaks offers generalist readers an opportunity to appreciate the marvelous complexity of human languagean ancient technology that ou

Julie Sedivy has taught linguistics and psychology at Brown University and the University of Calgary. She is the author of Language in Mind: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics and coauthor of Sold on Language: How Advertisers Talk to You and What This Says about You.