
The Language Game
How Improvisation Created Language and Changed the World
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping basket is already at capacity.
Add to cart failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

2 credits with free trial
1 credit a month to use on any title to download and keep
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks
Download titles to your library and listen offline
₹199 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.
Buy Now for ₹888.00
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice.
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Noble
-
Written by:
-
Morten H. Christiansen
-
Nick Chater
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
What is language? Why do we have it? Where does it come from? Why does that matter?
Upending centuries of scholarship (including, most recently, Chomsky and Pinker) The Language Game shows how people learn to talk not by acquiring fixed meanings and rules, but by picking up, reusing and recombining countless linguistic fragments in novel ways.
Drawing on entertaining and persuasive examples from across the world, the book explains:
- How our short-lived memory copes with the on-rushing deluge of sound that is everyday speech.
- Why it is that language is such a challenge for language scientists but learnt effortlessly by toddlers.
- Why the languages of the world are so spectacularly varied—and why no two people speak quite the same language.
- Why humans have language, but chimps don't.
- How language gave us a big brain and changed the course of evolution
- How language doesn't limit, but does shape, how we think.
- And ultimately, why what we have come to understand about how language works, gives us greater hope for our future.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater (P)2022 Penguin AudioCritic Reviews
"Highly original and convincing...a delight to read!" (Daniel Everett)
What listeners say about The Language Game
Average Customer RatingsOverall
Performance
Story