I have yet to make that video about why animals cant talk. The history of american sign language really started in 1814 with dr. The origins of language is a rare achievement, and highly recommended. Gallaudet realized alice was very smart despite the fact that she couldnt speak or hear, and wanted to teach alice how to communicate. It is not a book about historical linguistics, it is a book about the history of languages, placed firmly in the framework of political and social history. That or i did but forgot to update this bit in the description. Is there a scientific explanation for the human ability to use language. The best books on the history and diversity of language. Essay on the origin of languages and writings related to music. Sprinkled throughout are anecdotes, normally in footnote form that not only serve to illustrate the point prof. In which i take seven minutes to say we dont know squat. By the end of the 19th century, no book in english literary history had enjoyed more editions, spinoffs and translations. Origins of language the handbook of linguistics wiley online.
Language is both a cultural phenomenon and also the most salient distinguishing characteristic of modern homo sapiens as a species. Your first book choice is by nicholas evans, an australian academic and one of the leading figures in language documentation. I have recently started reading this book, and its the first history of the worlds great tongues, gloriously celebrating the wonder of words that binds communities. Childrens books, however, are a late growth of literature. After the first simple beginnings, human language underwent an explosion of complexity, leading to the very complicated systems of grammar and pronunciation. Enfield, max planck institute, nijmegen, and university of sydney hurford has written a delightful little book, an ideal point of entry into the range of complex issues facing anyone that wants to understand how human language evolved.
The bible is the holy scripture of the christian religion, purporting to tell the history of the earth from its earliest creation to the spread of christianity in the first century a. Now i do and fully admit that i am not a professional linguist by any stretch of the imagination. What is the most fascinating book on language, languages, or. There are many ways of recounting the history of the world via the rise and fall of. Gallaudet was a minister from hartford, connecticut.
Tracing the evolution of the mother tongue a very enlightening and at times very much enjoyable reading experience, i also have not really found the book all that linguistically convincing. I cannot doubt that language owes its origin to the imitation and modification, aided by signs and gestures, of various natural sounds, the voices of other animals, and mans own instinctive cries. After some general chapters on language and linguistics, the book takes the development of our language chronologically. On the origin of language the institute for creation research. Through studying the derivational history of words etymology the naturalists. The origins and development of the english language 6th. Many religions provide an account of the origin of language. Tracing the evolution of the mother tongue 9780471159636.
The history of english is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called old english or. I do have to point out that while i have found merritt ruhlens the origin of language. The search for the origins of language kenneally, christine on. Here are five of our favorite books about the evolution of the english language. The book proceeds to discussion of how language itself might have evolved, through the identification of language families, through the development of individual languages, and finally to. Things might have been different if this book were available then. Please tell us more about dying words this book is a history of world languages which focuses on the small languages that make up about 96% of all spoken languages but are spoken by only about 4% of the worlds population. The social origins of language princeton university press. Crusoes worldfamous novel is a complex literary confection, and it.