9780805080124-0805080120-The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention

The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention

ISBN-13: 9780805080124
ISBN-10: 0805080120
Edition: First Edition
Author: Guy Deutscher
Publication date: 2006
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Format: Paperback 368 pages
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Book details

ISBN-13: 9780805080124
ISBN-10: 0805080120
Edition: First Edition
Author: Guy Deutscher
Publication date: 2006
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Format: Paperback 368 pages

Summary

The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention (ISBN-13: 9780805080124 and ISBN-10: 0805080120), written by authors Guy Deutscher, was published by Holt Paperbacks in 2006. With an overall rating of 4.2 stars, it's a notable title among other Linguistics (Words, Language & Grammar , Evolution, Anthropology, Behavioral Sciences) books. You can easily purchase or rent The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention (Paperback) from BooksRun, along with many other new and used Linguistics books and textbooks. And, if you're looking to sell your copy, our current buyback offer is $0.58.

Description

Blending the spirit of Eats, Shoots & Leaves with the science of The Language Instinct, an original inquiry into the development of that most essential-and mysterious-of human creations: Language

Language is mankind's greatest invention-except, of course, that it was never invented." So begins linguist Guy Deutscher's enthralling investigation into the genesis and evolution of language. If we started off with rudimentary utterances on the level of "man throw spear," how did we end up with sophisticated grammars, enormous vocabularies, and intricately nuanced degrees of meaning?

Drawing on recent groundbreaking discoveries in modern linguistics, Deutscher exposes the elusive forces of creation at work in human communication, giving us fresh insight into how language emerges, evolves, and decays. He traces the evolution of linguistic complexity from an early "Me Tarzan" stage to such elaborate single-word constructions as the Turkish sehirlilestiremediklerimizdensiniz ("you are one of those whom we couldn't turn into a town dweller"). Arguing that destruction and creation in language are intimately entwined, Deutscher shows how these processes are continuously in operation, generating new words, new structures, and new meanings.

As entertaining as it is erudite, The Unfolding of Language moves nimbly from ancient Babylonian to American idiom, from the central role of metaphor to the staggering triumph of design that is the Semitic verb, to tell the dramatic story and explain the genius behind a uniquely human faculty.

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