The Power of Babel (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: John McWhorter
- First Published: 2001
- Type of Work: Language
- Genres: Nonfiction, History, Linguistics
- Subjects: Language or languages, Speech, English language, Evolution, Literacy, Sound, Grammar
John McWhorter’s playful allusion to the biblical Tower of Babel reflects both his colloquial and humorous style and his basic assumption about human language: The first human language emerged on the East African savannas about 150,000 years ago and evolved into the six thousand languages spoken in the world today. The “natural history” subtitle emphasizes the pervading biological context of The Power of Babel, in which evolution serves to explain how human language has changed over time. From the start, however, McWhorter cautions that the comparison between biological and...
[The entire page is 2103 words long]
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