New Books at PEOSTA

Reviewed: Choice Feb 2017 vol. 54 no. 6 (Essential; Recommended for Community College Libraries); The Economist 21 Sept. 2019 (referenced).

Reviewed: TLS 14 Oct. 2016 p. 34; NYT/BR 21 May 2017 p. 32

Reviewed: TLS 21 Apr. 2017 p. 33

Series Information: Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics.
Reviewed: CHE 13 Jan 2017; TLS 22 Sept. 2017 p. 27.
Description: Looks at what is officially the world's fastest-growing form of communication. Emoji, the colourful symbols and glyphs that represent everything from frowning disapproval to red-faced shame, are fast becoming embedded into digital communication. Controlled by a centralized body and regulated across the web, emoji seems to be a language: but is it? (publ.)

Reviewed: TLS 21 Apr. 2017 p. 33; PW 30 Oct. 2017 (Best Books of 2017).
Description: While most of us might take dictionaries for granted, the process of writing dictionaries is in fact as lively and dynamic as language itself. With sharp wit and irreverence, Kory Stamper cracks open the complex, obsessive world of lexicography, from the agonizing decisions about what and how to define, to the knotty questions of usage in an ever-changing language. She explains why the small words are the most difficult to define, how it can take nine months to define a single word, and how our biases about language and pronunciation can have tremendous social influence.
Note: Kory Stamper is featured guest speaker at 2017 Iowa Library Association (ILA) annual conference in October 18-20, 2017 (Coralville).