The Story of Human Language

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 endles... » 

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.

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CH1. What Is Language?CH2. When Language BeganCH3. How Language Changes: Sound ChangeCH4. How Language Changes: Building New MaterialCH5. How Language Changes: Meaning and OrderCH6. How Language Changes: Many DirectionsCH7. How Language Changes: Modern EnglishCH8. Language Families: Indo-EuropeanCH9. Language Families: Tracing Indo-EuropeanCH10. Language Families: Diversity of StructuresCH11. Language Families: Clues to the PastCH12. The Case Against the World's First LanguageCH13. The Case For the World's First LanguageCH14. Dialects: Subspecies of SpeciesCH15. Dialects: Where Do You Draw the Line?CH16. Dialects: Two Tongues in One MouthCH17. Dialects: The Standard as Token of the PastCH18. Dialects: Spoken Style, Written StyleCH19. Dialects: The Fallacy of Blackboard GrammarCH20. Language Mixture: WordsCH21. Language Mixture: GrammarCH22. Language Mixture: Language AreasCH23. Language Develops Beyond the Call of DutyCH24. Language InterruptedCH25. A New Perspective on the Story of EnglishCH26. Does Culture Drive Language Change?CH27. Language Starts Over: PidginsCH28. Language Starts Over: Creoles ICH29. Language Starts Over: Creoles IICH30. Language Starts Over: Signs of the NewCH31. Language Starts Over: The Creole ContinuumCH32. What Is Black English?CH33. Language Death: The ProblemCH34. Language Death: PrognosisCH35. Artificial LanguagesCH36. Finale: Master Class «