Words on the Move: Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally) | Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue | What Language Is | The Unfolding of Language | Empires of the Word | Principles of Language Learning and Teaching | Through the Language Glass
There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, linguistics professor John McWhorter reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment.
Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, Creoles, and nonstandard dialects.
About: Chronicles the evolution of language from the appearance of the first language about 150,000 years ago in East Africa to the approximately six thousand language varieties of today.
About: This text provides a guided tour of languages, aiming to be at once both thought-provoking and entertaining.
About: Chronicles the origins and evolution of language from the appearance of the first language about 150,000 years ago in East Africa to the approximately six thousand language varieties of today.
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