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Shop nowHow Language Began
The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention
Narrator
Jonathan Yen
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Length
13 hours 10 minutes
Language
English
Mankind has a distinct advantage over other terrestrial species: we talk to one another. But how did we acquire the most advanced form of communication on Earth? Daniel L. Everett, a "bombshell" linguist and "instant folk hero" (Tom Wolfe, Harper's), provides in this sweeping history a comprehensive examination of the evolutionary story of language, from the earliest speaking attempts by hominids to the more than seven thousand languages that exist today.
Although fossil hunters and linguists have brought us closer to unearthing the true origins of language, Daniel Everett's discoveries have upended the contemporary linguistic world, reverberating far beyond academic circles. While conducting field research in the Amazonian rainforest, Everett came across an age-old language nestled amongst a tribe of hunter-gatherers. Challenging long-standing principles in the field, Everett now builds on the theory that language was not intrinsic to our species. In order to truly understand its origins, a more interdisciplinary approach is needed—one that accounts as much for our propensity for culture as it does our biological makeup.
Daniel L. Everett was born in Holtville, California. He worked in the Amazon jungles of Brazil for over thirty years, among more than one dozen different tribal groups. He is best known for his long-term work on the Pirahã language. He has published over 100 articles, as well as more than ten books on linguistic theory, life in the Amazon, and the description of endangered Amazonian languages. His book, Don't Sleep, There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, was selected by National Public Radio as one of the best books of 2009 in the U.S., by Blackwell's bookstores as one of the best of 2009 in the U.K., and was an "editor's choice" of the London Sunday Times. It was also a featured BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. His book Language: The cultural tool was a New York Times Editor's Choice. Everett is currently Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Jonathan Yen was inspired by the Golden Age of Radio, and while the gold was gone by the time he got there, he's carried that inspiration through to commercial work, voice acting, and stage productions. His "versatile baritone" and "distinct and perceptive role-playing" make for "a striking marriage of performance and storytelling." From vintage Howard Fast science fiction to naturalist Paul Rosolie's true adventures in the Amazon, Jonathan loves to tell a good story.