“REFORMULATION ONE-PRIME, Göedel’s Theorem: For any culture, there are…” — Native Tongue 📚 log(book)

I'm currently behind on reviews, so don't be surprised if the recent reviews are a bit sparse.

REFORMULATION ONE-PRIME, Göedel’s Theorem: For any culture, there are languages which it cannot use because they would result in its indirect self-destruction.

Cover of Native Tongue.

Native Tongue

by Suzette Haden Elgin · published 1984 · read 2020-10-19

★★☆☆☆

Interesting, but ultimately not satisfying. Imagine a Handmaid's Tale style dystopian future but with xenolinguistics. There's a subtle female language-based resistance, and the whole setup is neat, but it doesn't really go anywhere. Life goes on, women are mistreated, leadership remains the samel