"There is no other Indo-European language in Europe that doesn't have gender. On why the English language lacks genders Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Languages are anything but pure, he writes they are complex, intermingled and, as he tells NPR's Tony Cox, constantly morphing "like a lump in a lava lamp."Ĭlose overlay Buy Featured Book Title What Language Is Subtitle And What It Isn't and What It Could Be Author John McWhorter In his book, What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be, McWhorter, a professor of linguistics and Western civilization at Columbia University, debunks some of our most persistent myths about language.
If a language isn't fixed on a page - like English, French, Spanish or Chinese - it isn't "real."Īnd while many English speakers consider the English language to be relatively advanced, linguist John McWhorter says it's actually profoundly simpler than many ancient languages. Yet many assume the written word is superior to how humans actually speak. Humans have been putting words on tablets, textiles and paper only for approximately the past 5,500 years. The written word, in contrast, is relatively new. Whether or not the first humans could speak is still a matter of debate, but most scientists agree that languages have been around for at least 80,000 years. But, he says, like all spoken languages, they also morph over time. Linguist John McWhorter says sign languages function in ways that no other languages do.
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