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The Story of Human Language
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
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Publisher's summary
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.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
Editor's Pick
A whole world of words
"Language is so weird. It can never be fully pinned down, and it evolves in fascinating and unpredictable ways. That’s what makes this course so fun. By examining the evolution of language, Professor John McWhorter elucidates a cross-section of history from a perspective we all take for granted. McWhorter knows all of the factoids behind the factoids, in multiple languages, making this course endlessly entertaining and eye-opening."
—Michael D., Audible Editor
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The ancient Toltecs believed that life, as we perceive it, is a dream. We each live in our own personal dream, and these come together to form the dream of the planet, or the world in which we live. Problems arise when our perception of the dream becomes clouded with negativity, drama, and judgment (of ourselves and others), because it's in these moments of suffering that we have forgotten that we are the architects of our own reality and we have the power to change our dream if we choose.
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listen.. .then listen again
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The Debutante
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Thirty years ago, award-winning journalist Jon Ronson stumbled on the mystery of Carol Howe—a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant. In 1995, Carol was spying on Oklahoma’s neo-Nazis for the government just when Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
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Interesting but not compelling
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The Ethical Slut
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For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this groundbreaking guide navigates the infinite possibilities that open relationships can offer. Experienced ethical sluts Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy dispel myths and cover all the skills necessary to maintain a successful and responsible polyamorous lifestyle.
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The information and advice is 100% totally solid!
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The history of the tablets translated in the following book is strange and beyond the belief of modern scientists. Their antiquity is stupendous, dating back some 36,000 years. The writer is Thoth, an Atlantean Priest-King, who founded a colony in ancient Egypt after the sinking of the mother country. He was the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, erroneously attributed to Cheops. In it he incorporated his knowledge of the ancient wisdom and also securely secreted records and instruments of ancient Atlantis.
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Excellence...
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Navigating the challenges of long-term commitment takes effort - and it just got simpler, with this empowering, step-by-step guide to communicating about the things that matter most to you and your partner. Drawing on 40 years of research from their world-famous Love Lab, Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman invite couples on eight fun, easy, and profoundly rewarding dates, each one focused on a make-or-break issue: trust, conflict, sex, money, family, adventure, spirituality, and dreams.
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What the F. Robot-reader???!?!?!
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On the face of it, a simple book of 26 poem fables sharing one man’s wisdom. But The Prophet is so much more than that. It has inspired people from John F Kennedy to The Beatles and became the '60s Bible of counterculture – all because of the timeless truths it shared. Each poem takes a different theme – pleasure, beauty, freedom, joy and sorrow – as the fictional Al Mustapha shares his thoughts and experiences as he prepares to travel back to his island home.
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Riz Ahmed's Narraration Is So Moving!
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The 10 enlightening (and often humorous) lectures of Medieval Myths and Mysteries will show you how far from the “dark” times of legend these centuries were. Uncover the facts about the Knights Templar. Reveal the truth behind the tales of legendary creatures like the Questing Beast and the unicorn. Trace the events of the Black Death and the ways it altered the world in its wake, and much more. With Professor Armstrong, you will dig deep into the ways that later generations reshaped the narrative of the medieval years and perpetuated the myths.
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Interesting, but centered on Britain
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Ho Tactics
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I have discovered a group of women who refuse to be exploited, are immune to manipulation, and who never settle in the name of love. These ladies know what they want and take what they want by beating men at their own game. Utilizing the secrets exposed in this book, these women gain power, money, and status. Men call them gold diggers, women call them hos, but they call themselves winners. This is the book that society doesn't want you to listen to….
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I spent $24,000 in 4 months
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Mythology: Mega Collection
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
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Marcus Aurelius - Meditations: Adapted for the Contemporary Reader
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Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. These books have been carefully adapted into modern English form to allow for easy listening. Enjoy!
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Best translation
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What is our species' greatest invention? Medicine, computers, space travel? Not even close. The innovation that underlies each of our past achievements and those we still aspire to is language. Language is the ultimate invention of Homo sapiens - one that has allowed us to change the physical and social world around us in every conceivable way, and an invention that has fundamentally changed us, as well.
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What 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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- Anonymous User
- 08-21-22
pretty terrible lecturer
The lecturer was pretty offensive in many parts. lots of sly remarks about "blacks", women, and others. it made me pretty uncomfortable listening at parts.
I think the content was really great, but he should be more aware of his assumptions about people and be a little less offensive towards other groups.
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- Aizlyn Pieszak
- 06-04-22
Verbose
Yikes this man is like when you’re a school kid trying to reach a word limit in a term paper. Ooof.
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- Jan
- 12-04-21
Interesting content with some sensationalist take
I found the content very interesting and informative. One one hand, it was fascinating to learn how languages are born, expand, and eventually decline. On the other hand, the narrator often comes across as arrogant and conceited. His sensationalist claims like the one that Ukrainian and Russian are the same language (I stidied Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian and I can tell that Ukrainian is much much closer to Polish than to Russian) made me doubt the credibility of the remaining content of the course.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-23-21
Made me Giggled a lot
I liked the contents of this course, it wasn't the topic I was expecting when I bought it, but I liked it nevertheless
It's well structured and easy to understand
and the occasional joke made the course even interesting
Would rate 6 out of 5 if possible
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- Stephan Kadauke
- 10-25-21
Fantastic!
Absolutely fantastic introduction to Linguistics. Approachable, witty, and comprehensive. Highly recommended for all language nerds!
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- Abbie
- 10-06-21
Wonderful and fun listen
Never struggled through this book. John McWhorter has a wonderful voice. He's clear and often hilarious. There is a lot of information to go through with this book and honestly I can't wait to listen to it again. After listening to him I now wonder just how many of the words I typed are borrowed, mangled, and evolved forms of words originally from English or various other languages.
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- George D. Geddes
- 03-13-21
Great material unfortunate presentation.
Presented by a rather irritating personality. Too bad, as I really am interested in this subject. The narrator injected far too much of his rather obnoxious opinion in his lectures. The fact that I listened to the entire series is a tribute to my natural tendency towards tenacity rather than any particular respect I feel for the narrator. Linguistics is a science, his opinions are irrelevant and annoying, bordering on offense. Find another instructor.
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- wbiro
- 02-06-21
Stimulating, and it Covered a Lot of Areas
For me, it stimulated notions between the book's lines - between its many thoughts and observations in its various chapters (things that I noticed it did not mention or consider), which, for me, were 1. Linguistic Turbulence - my notion that languages gradually change due to the turbulence in human movement, where one person may drift into another language area and introduce new words into it and borrow some from it, then drift on; 2. the digestive system's effect on language development (say a sour stomach would result in a gruff language); 3. on possible reasons behind click languages, where the sound of the mouth opening when one begins to speak was put to use, or that it was a quieter way of communicating around wild predator and prey... and 4. it did not consider how writing affects a language as it strives for exactness of linguistic expression..."
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- Ahmad J Almujalhem
- 07-18-20
The Story of Human Languages!
Overall, it is very informative book, easy to follow the flow of topics and a lot of interesting facts. There is quite repetition and some topics took quite lengthy coverage, but I believe it is mostly due to the nature of book topic.
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- Charliemaigne
- 07-13-20
Interesting, well researched, and PROBLEMATIC
This lecture series was fascinating. It was clearly based on the author's decades of scholarship and experience as a teacher. The pace moved appropriately and the courses built on each other in an intuitive way that I want to praise as excellent pedagogy. However! The author uses the Esk*mo and B*rbur slurs, repeatedly jokes about his interests as evidence that he's "mentally ill", and gets himself into unnecessarily insensitive conversations about human gender and sex while discussing gendered language. So, while I found it an interesting course, it was not enjoyable. It was triggering and upsetting and while I understand that it is already almost a decade old, that does not excuse a teacher using this kind of language in the classroom. I wish he'd do an updated version, after taking some courses in Trans 101, Disability 101, and Indigenous people's identities, and I dearly hope he doesn't use this kind of language in his current courses where I'm sure he's teaching students who would be too uncomfortable to confront him on how damaging it is to a student's ability to learn when a teacher is using this kind of language...highly ironic for a philologist/linguist.
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