THE STORY OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

Professor McWhorter covers aspects of linguistics such as sound change, cross-cultural relationships, word order, and vast verbal migrations. Although the material can be tedious and technical for a general audience, the professor injects vitality into subjects like talking parrots, Mandarin Chinese, and brain anatomy. The lectures try to be conversational and extemporaneous; occasional humor breaks the monotony as the speaker laughs at his own jokes. A few drops in vocal volume make some words inaudible. The plethora of examples--including guttural and unusual speech inflections--could never be demonstrated in any media but audio. Seven hundred pages of transcripts, outlines, maps, time lines, glossaries, and Internet resources come packaged with the course. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 05]