A01=Daniel Everett
anthropology
archaeology
Author_Daniel Everett
biological
biology
Category=CBX
Category=CF
Chomsky
cultural
Daniel Everett
David Crystal
Don't Sleep There Are Snakes
eq_bestseller
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Gaston Dorren
Guy Deutscher
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens
How Language Began
How Language Works
language
language instinct
Language The Cultural Tool
Lingo
linguistics
mental
neuroscience
Noam Chomsky
ocean-going boats
Plato
speech
Steven Pinker
technological
The Architecture of Language
The unfolding of language
Product details
- ISBN 9781781253939
- Weight: 251g
- Dimensions: 128 x 196mm
- Publication Date: 06 Sep 2018
- Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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In his groundbreaking new book Daniel Everett seeks answers to questions that have perplexed thinkers from Plato to Chomsky: when and how did language begin? What is it? And what is it for?
Daniel Everett confounds the conventional wisdom that language originated with Homo sapiens 150,000 years ago and that we have a 'language instinct'. Drawing on evidence from a wide range of fields, including linguistics, archaeology, biology, anthropology and neuroscience, he shows that our ancient ancestors, Homo erectus, had the biological and mental equipment for speech one and half million years ago, and that their cultural and technological achievements (including building ocean-going boats) make it overwhelmingly likely they spoke some kind of language.
How Language Began sheds new light on language and culture and what it means to be human and, as always, Daniel Everett spices his account with incident and anecdote. His book is convincing, arresting and entertaining.
Daniel Everett worked in the Amazon jungles of Brazil for over 30 years, among more than a dozen different tribal groups. He has published extensively on language and culture and is one of the world's most influential thinkers in both fields. His Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes was selected by Blackwell's bookstores as one of the best of 2009, was an 'editor's choice' of the Sunday Times and has been the subject of a film and a play. He is currently Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
