How Language Began: The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention Free Audiobook Download by Daniel L. Everett
"Language is the most important invention for humanity - it made possible thoughts that are too complex for manual communication; notions that transcend any one culture or era. It fueled the dazzling story of our species and vastly enriched our world."
Language is one of the most unique things about humans. It's so integral to who we are that without it, we wouldn't be able to do many things. Things like ask for directions, use a computer, or read this blog post would be impossible. Luckily, there are plenty of audiobooks you can download in English (US).
Technology is a common way to communicate, but it wasn't always the case. The first form of language may have evolved from vocalizations by our ancestors. The theory goes that one individual would point at a tree and grunt. Another would watch and grunt back in response. Bullet Point: What Languages Are Spoken on Earth? Paragraph: There are about 6,900 living languages spoken around the world today (as of 2007). The distribution of these languages varies from 4% in Europe to 79% in Africa.
Language has always been mankind's greatest invention. It enabled us to transcend the limitations of our bodies and our environment. Language enables us to share information, collaborate on complex tasks, learn from the experiences of others, and build cultures in which ideas can be shared continuously.
Language is one of the most important parts of human culture but what if it never existed? Daniel L. Everett, a linguist who spent over three decades studying and living among the Pirahã in Brazil, tells the story of humanity's greatest invention and how it came to be. As a young missionary in 1964, Daniel accidentally discovered a language without words, a language without tenses or numbers, without counting or quantifying objects or events. The Pirahã have no words for colors either; instead they use phrases like "like to paint with" to describe them. What if this was our reality? What would life be like? This book reveals just that: life through the lens of Amazonian Indians - their thoughts, observations, and
In Everett's view, the uniquely human capacity was not language itself but conceptual thought. Language, for Everett, is a secondary adaptation- a by product of the more fundamental fact that the human brain can think about things.
Published Date | 2018-03-20 |
Duration | 13 hours 11 minutes |
Author | Daniel L. Everett |
Narrated | Jonathan Yen |
Reviews | |
Abridged | No |
Is It Free? | 30-days Free |
Category | Language Instruction |
Parent Category | Language Arts, Biology & Chemistry, World |