The Story of Human Language
With over 6,000 languages in the world and linguists claiming they all originated from one, the first question on many people's mind is how did we get so many? Professor McWhorter describes how sounds change, words change, and whole languages change over time and are basically in a constant state of change. When a language stops changing it is on its way to becoming extinct. This extinction has been the fate of many, many languages and is part of the process of how we arrived where we are today.
At the opposite end of extinction is the creation of a new language. One of the ways this comes about is detailed by Mr. McWhorter when he discusses dialects and creoles. In the case of dialects he describes how these languages develop within another language, develop into a creole, and then new language.
But languages don't always move apart into new languages. Sometimes two languages borrow words from each other to the point that they become more and more similar. But whether moving apart or closer together, a living language is always changing.
Professor McWhorter also examines how major changes in pronunciation can occur, such as the “great vowel shift” in English. In a very interesting lecture he discusses the pronunciation of various English words before and after this shift. In this case, as in all the others, Professor McWhorter does an excellent job of picking interesting examples to illustrate his points.
Languages, language groups, dialects, pidgins, creoles, everything about the human language and how it changes is covered in this series and I found it to be one of the most fascinating courses from The Teaching Company. The Story of Human Language is highly recommended.
Professor: John McWhorter
Publisher: The Teaching Company
4151 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite 100
Chantilly, VA 20151-1232
Copyright: 2004
Lectures: 36
Format: Audio CD, Tape, DVD, Video Tape