# Rik Smits (linguist)

Reinier Johannes Charles "Rik" Smits (born 1953 in The Hague) is a Dutch linguist, author, translator and editor with a wide range of interests.
As a linguist he specialized in generative syntax, taking a PhD in General Linguistics in 1989. From then on, he mainly pursued a writing career, informing the general public on linguistic matters theoretical and practical. Apart from linguistics, he published hundreds of articles and interviews on subjects like the brain, ICT and its ramifications, modern media, intellectual property, freedom of speech, copyright and other fundamental rights, history, ethics and politics.
Smits published books on subjects ranging from language via handedness and laterality to history and French cuisine, mostly in Dutch. Books in English comprise The Puzzle of Left-handedness, which deals with the cultural, biological and evolutionary aspects of human handedness and the notions of left, right and symmetry in biology, psychology, art and life in general, and the above-mentioned Dawn, the Origins of Language and the Modern Human Mind, an inquiry into why, how and when the human language faculty - and with it the truly modern mind - developed. For the earlier Dutch version of this book he won the LOT-award 2010. Smits shows that human language is not only truly human, representing a clear and fundamental break between "us" and the animal kingdom, and that it could not have arisen for communicative purposes - that came later.
From 2008-2015 he was the editor of De Republikein (The Republican), a quarterly on modern constitutional democracy and citizenship.
Translations include Simon Goldhill's Love, Sex and Tragedy; how the Ancient World Shapes our Lives (Liefde, seks en tragedie; hoe de oudheid ons heeft gevormd, Nieuw Amsterdam, 2012), Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy; the End of Camelot (Killing Kennedy, het einde van een droom, Nieuw Amsterdam, 2012) and Litter; how other People's Rubbish Shapes our Lives (Andermans rotzooi, Nieuw Amsterdam, 2012) by Theodore Dalrymple.

## Books

| Title | Publisher/year | Genre | Notes |
| The Art of Verbal Welfare | Reaktion Books | Culture, sociology | In preparation |
| Dawn: The Origins of Language and the Modern Human Mind | Transaction Publishers, 2016 ISBN 978-1-4128-6265-3 | Science | |
| The Puzzle of Left-Handedness | Reaktion Books/University of Chicago Press, 2011 ISBN 978-1-86189-873-9 | Science | |
| Eurogrammar 1: The Relative and Cleft Constructions of the Germanic and Romance Language | Foris/Walter de Gruyter, 1989 ISBN 978-90-6765-434-0 | Doctoral Thesis | |
| In Dutch | | | |
| Rebellen, Een dwarse geschiedenis van 200 jaar Nederland | Nieuw Amsterdam, 2013 ISBN 978-90-468-1578-6 | History | |
| Het raadsel van linkshandigheid | Nieuw Amsterdam, 2010 ISBN 978-90-468-0744-6 | Science | |
| Dageraad, Hoe taal de mens maakte | Nieuw Amsterdam, 2009 SBN 978-90-468-0389-9 | Science | |
| Handboek Nederlands | Bijleveld, 2004 ISBN 90-6131-956-0 | Language | with Liesbeth Koenen |
| E-mail etiquette | Podium, 2000 ISBN 90-5759-253-3 | Language | with Liesbeth Koenen |
| La Carte, Tafelwoordenboek voor de Franse Keuken | Atlas, 1997 / Podium, 2002 ISBN 978-90-5759-191-4 | Travel, food | App iOS/Android |
| De Keuken van Argus | Atlas, 1996 ISBN 90-254-0528-2 | Journalism | with Liesbeth Koenen and Mans Kuipers |
| Basishandleiding Nederlands | Bijleveld, 1995-2004 ISBN 90-6131-955-2 | Language | with Liesbeth Koenen |
| De Linkshandige Picador | Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 1993 ISBN 90-388-7045-0 | Science | |
| Cultureel Woordenboek | Anthos, 1992/2003 | Language | with Liesbeth Koenen |
| Peptalk - Engels Woordgebruik in de Nederlandse Taal | Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 1992 ISBN 90-388-4346-1 | Language | with Liesbeth Koenen |