A Mouthful of Air: Language and Languages, Especially English is a book on linguistics by Anthony Burgess published in 1992.^[1][2]

Topics covered in the book include:

• the mechanics of linguistic sounds;^[3]
• the development of the English language, and its connections with other languages;
• the making of dictionaries;
• the importance of slang;
• the International Phonetic Alphabet;
• the role of dialect;
• the best way to learn a foreign language;
• and a look at specific languages, (including Russian, Japanese, and Malay).