Audiobook9 hours
Language Unlimited: The Science Behind Our Most Creative Power
Written by David Adger
Narrated by David Adger
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
All humans, but no other species, have the capacity to create and understand language. It provides structure to our thoughts, allowing us to plan, communicate, and create new ideas, without limit. Yet we have only finite experiences, and our languages have finite stores of words. Where does our linguistic creativity come from? How does the endless scope of language emerge from our limited selves?
Drawing on research from neuroscience, psychology, and linguistics, David Adger takes the listener on a journey to the hidden structure behind all we say (or sign) and understand. Along the way you'll meet children who created language out of almost nothing, and find out how new languages emerge using structures found in languages spoken continents away. David Adger will show you how the more than 7000 languages in the world appear to obey the same deep scientific laws, how to invent a language that breaks these, and how our brains go crazy when we try to learn languages that just aren't possible. You'll discover why rats are better than we are at picking up certain language patterns, why apes are far worse at others, and how artificial intelligences, such as those behind Alexa and Siri, understand language in a very un-human way.
Drawing on research from neuroscience, psychology, and linguistics, David Adger takes the listener on a journey to the hidden structure behind all we say (or sign) and understand. Along the way you'll meet children who created language out of almost nothing, and find out how new languages emerge using structures found in languages spoken continents away. David Adger will show you how the more than 7000 languages in the world appear to obey the same deep scientific laws, how to invent a language that breaks these, and how our brains go crazy when we try to learn languages that just aren't possible. You'll discover why rats are better than we are at picking up certain language patterns, why apes are far worse at others, and how artificial intelligences, such as those behind Alexa and Siri, understand language in a very un-human way.
Related to Language Unlimited
Related audiobooks
The Hidden History of Coined Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Language Began: The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Dead Languages Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Irony and Sarcasm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changing Minds: How Aging Affects Language and How Language Affects Aging Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Gift of the Gab: How Eloquence Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Linguistics: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glamour Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between: Volume II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Brain from Inside Out Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Webster's New World Power Vocabulary, Volume 4 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future–and Shape It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of English: The Biography of a Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bagels, Bumf, and Buses: A Day in the Life of the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Science & Mathematics For You
How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radiolab: Journey Through The Human Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Radiolab: Mixtape: How The Cassette Changed The World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radiolab: The Feels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cosmos: A Personal Voyage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thinking in Systems: A Primer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gene: An Intimate History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Free Will Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghost Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Language Unlimited
Rating: 3.6666667 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
6 ratings0 reviews