Is language proof of God's existence?

Don’t Believe a Word
By David Shariatmadari
Widenfeld and Nicolson, 336pp, £16.99/$26.95

Linguistics is a fascinating area of study, but an enormously challenging one to bring to a general readership, especially given how many British and American readers will be monoglots.

Then there’s the further complication that, for most native speakers, learning English is not something we do via intricate study of the inner workings of our language, but something we pick up first from our parents, and then (if we are lucky) have our understanding developed by teachers at school and university.