How Technology Influences Language

By: James Pfrehm, The Great Courses

Narrated by: James Pfrehm

Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

To be human in today’s world means that you engage in constant linguistic interactions with some form of technology, from your smart phone to your refrigerator. That’s not as new a trend as you might think.

Language has shaped - and been shaped by - some of our world’s most significant communication technologies. Our current language bears the marks of millennia of interaction between humans and our technologies, beginning with the very first primitive writing systems and moving into the age of the printing press, the telegraph, and the typewriter.

Yet, at no other point in our history have technology and language been so enmeshed. Technology uses language to “communicate” a steady stream of information to us, not to mention helping us to communicate with each other.

By studying and analyzing the relationship between humans and their technology, we begin to understand what makes our unique form of communication, which we call language, unique to humans. We learn about who we are today in the 21st century and how we became these complicated, modern-day technolinguistic beings.

©2021 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC.

Just a bit dull

There's nothing strongly wrong about this, but I found it just a bit dull. It's a bit like a course at University which you have to take, but isn't really very interesting. There are some interesting nuggets, such as the details of the history of the telephone, but overall not really enough to make it worth a strong recommendation.

More About Linguistics

There's a lot of information about linguistics (sounds, characters, and different languages). And some of the technologies weren't that interesting, such as phone etiquette (it used to be impolite to call instead of sending an invitation to a person) and texting (ok, except "Emoji-Dick," which is a translation of Herman Melville's classic Moby Dick in Japanese emoji icons). A fascinating fact is that Ernest Hemingway used to be a journalist and sent his stories over the telegraph. This explains his clear, compact writing style.

interesting

this book help me understand how comunicación evolved . great book to listen but you must pay attention

No in-depth contemporary technology analysis

I expectes this book to deal with modern technology and language, but instead tgr majority of the lectures focused on history, from writing and printing to the telegraph and telephone. All fine and well, and interesting enough, but then the parts about more contemporary technology felt rushed. Mr Pfrehm even mentioned quite often that "we don't have time to talk about that now".
Well, he should have made the time because that was what i came for.
I finished the book feeling rather disappointed.

Pretty good

Pretty good. I learned a few things. The best part was his explanation of WHY children shouldn't spend so much time staring at a screen.

Awesome.

Lots of history is explained here, perfect for the language geek. Very well thought out, presented, and delivered. After you read this, listen to Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman (but unfortunately with bad narration). The two books take two different paths starting from similar topics. They tell a couple of the same stories but from different perspectives. Fascinating.

James Pfrehm narrates his own book, and it must be delightful to take his classes. I totally recommend this to those who like languages and to see how things fit together.

Excellent and entertaining

As a linguist and applied linguist myself, I truly enjoyed the easiness with which the content was presented. I learned a few new facts and enjoyed listening yo another scholar making the same points I discuss with my students. I was specially happy about the multiple times the author emphasizes the importance that pragmatics has for effective communication. I also have a bunch of inappropriate emails pin to my office wall.

A great pick!

I usually don't have time to read outside of my domain (IT) but the book title caught my attention, and I knew if I didn't like it I can return it.
Wow, just wow! Not just the awesome content, or the smart yet funny way it is written, but to add to that the fact that the author Dr James Pfrehm is the narrator.
i envy his students. I will search for any other books narrated by him.

I've been using Audible for over 2 years, most of the books were good, but this is the first time it is so good that I really need to let the world know.

If you are a techie and/or into linguistics this is a great pick!

Couldn’t continue

Sounded super interesting but the lecturer is very stilted, jokes not funny. I’ve enjoyed other editions of the great courses series, but I couldn’t seem to focus & maintain interest in this one.

Mixed messages

While there are some good points and broad explanations of the current state of the interaction between technology and language communications, the course is spoilt by the frequent insertions of the Lecturer's opinions as he strieves to maintain his politically correct credentials.