‘Telling and compelling’ Susie Dent, author of Word Perfect

‘Rob Drummond has achieved something very special in this book’ David Crystal, author of How Language Works

‘Intriguing and engaging’ Gyles Brandreth, author of Word Play

Why do we have different accents and where do they come from? Why do you say ‘tomayto’ and I say ‘tomahto’? And is one way of speaking better than another?

In the book You’re All Talk, linguist Rob Drummond explores the vast variety in our speech to reveal fascinating insights into how humans work: how we perceive (and judge) others and how we would like to be perceived.

He examines how and why we automatically associate different accents with specific social characteristics - levels of friendliness, authority, social class, level of education, race, etc. - and how, consciously or subconsciously, we change the way we speak to create different versions of ourselves to fit into various environments.

Ultimately, You’re All Talk shows the beauty of linguistic diversity and how embracing it can provide us with better understanding of others - and ourselves.

Pages: 256, Dimensions: 13.5x13.5cm