How Language Began: The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.80 (642 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B01MDMVCO1 |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 439 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-09-16 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University. I believe that Daniel L. “Everett mixes esoteric scholarly inquiry with approachable anecdotal interludes to surmise how humans developed written and spoken language and why it became vital for survival and dominance. As in his previous books, Everett energetically attacks the long-accepted theory of Noam Chomsky that humans are born with the language instinct, including innate rules of structure.That Everett is skilled at leavening an intellectually challenging treatise with humor is evident on the first page of the introduction.” - Kirkus Reviews“Very few books on the biological and cultural origin of humanity can be ranked as classics. Everett’s How Language Began will be one of them.” - Edward O
Everett, a “bombshell” linguist and “instant folk hero” (Tom Wolfe, Harper’s), presents the stunning ideas that we are not born with an instinct for language and that the near seven thousand languages that exist today—the product of one million years of evolution—are the very basis of our own consciousness. Woven throughout with lucid anecdotes of his nearly forty years of fieldwork among ian hunter-gatherers, this exploration of our humanity becomes a landmark study of what makes us human.. But how did we acquire the most advanced form of communication on Earth? In this sweeping history, How Language Began revolutionizes our understanding of the one tool that has allowed us to become the “lords of the planet.” Debunking long-held t
Daniel L. Everett is the dean of arts and sciences at Bentley University. He lives in Petersham, Massachusetts. He has published more than one hundred articles and twelve books on linguistic theory, including The Dark Matter of the Mind.