Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Unfolding of Language
The Unfolding of Language
The Unfolding of Language
by Guy Deutscher
Arguing that destruction and creation in language are intimately entwined, The
Unfolding of Language shows how these processes are continuously in operation,
generating new words, new structures, and new meanings. From the written records of
lost civilizations to the spoken idiom of today’s streets, we move nimbly from ancient
Babylonian through medieval French to the English of the present. We marvel at the
staggering triumph of design that is the Semitic verb, puzzle over single words that can
express highly elaborate sentiments, such as the Turkish
sehirlilestiremediklerimizdensiniz (“you are one of those whom we couldn’t turn into a
town-dweller”), and learn how great changes of pronunciation may result from an age
old human habit - simple laziness. Through the dramatic story of The Unfolding of
Language, we discover the genius behind a uniquely human faculty.