The Story of Human Language
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The Story of Human Language
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Narrated by:
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John McWhorter
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Written by:
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John McWhorter
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The Great Courses
About this listen
Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct. Now you can explore all of these questions and more in an in-depth series of 36 lectures from one of America's leading linguists.
You'll be witness to the development of human language, learning how a single tongue spoken 150,000 years ago evolved into the estimated 6,000 languages used around the world today and gaining an appreciation of the remarkable ways in which one language sheds light on another.
The many fascinating topics you examine in these lectures include: the intriguing evidence that links a specific gene to the ability to use language; the specific mechanisms responsible for language change; language families and the heated debate over the first language; the phenomenon of language mixture; why some languages develop more grammatical machinery than they actually need; the famous hypothesis that says our grammars channel how we think; artificial languages, including Esperanto and sign languages for the deaf; and how word histories reflect the phenomena of language change and mixture worldwide.
©2004 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2004 The Great CoursesWhat listeners say about The Story of Human Language
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 05-08-22
Absolutely fascinating
I am no expert or even a serious scholar in the field of linguistics - just an enthusiast, I am. And I found this tour of the world of languages absolutely fascinating. It covers a wide variety of topics so a very good introduction to this vast beautiful world of langunges. The narration is quite nice - Clear voice, and examples of snippets of languages reproduced through out.
The content also has some peppering of light touch humour breaking what could otherwise have been a heavy subject.
I especially liked the human touch and recognition of human aspect through out the content. There is even a lecture on artificially created languages! Perhaps the next version will cover the whole new languages of emoji's too !!
All in all, a very satisfying and informative read if you have some interest in languages and are looking to find a foot hold to move from casual thought to some science and sociology forging and shaping linguistics.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joy Jacob
- 14-04-21
Very interesting and informative
The narrator/Professor was very good at keeping your attention. Overall very interesting course for people interested in language and also migration.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- RG
- 23-10-22
Fantastic insight
Professor John McWhorter's experience, hardship, passion, research, wisdom are all well churned, extracted & filtered as sweet nectar of knowledge in this wonderful series that will certainly open new set of ears when we all hear another language
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dr.R.Krishnan
- 04-05-22
Was interesting
Much of his talk was interesting and informative. However in areas like Sanskrit his knowledge seemed inadequate.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MS
- 14-07-23
Infectious passionate story
John is funny passionate and kindles the quest in linguistics. An enjoyable peek into a diverse unknown field.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Shivakumar
- 02-06-20
Content is good. But it is not captivating.
It's monotonous. Too much focus on European languages. South Asia and African languages neglected. Soico political context of language should have been emphasized over linguistics.
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5 people found this helpful