Overview

“The most important—and provocative—anthropological fieldwork ever undertaken.” —Tom Wolfe  For years, the prevailing opinion among academics has been that language is embedded in our genes, existing as an innate and instinctual part of us. In this bold and provocative study, linguist Daniel Everett argues that, like other tools, language was invented by humans and can be reinvented or lost. He shows how the evolution of different language forms—that is, different grammar—reflects how language is influenced by human societies and experiences, and how it expresses their great variety. Combining anthropology, primatology, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and his own pioneering research with the Amazonian Pirahã, and using insights from many different languages and cultures, Everett presents an unprecedented elucidation of this society-defined nature of language. In doing so, he also gives us a new understanding of how we think and who we are.

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9780307473806

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Full of intellectually omnivorous insights and reminiscences about Everett's years with the PirahA . . . [ Language ] is that rare thing: a warm linguistics book. -- The New York Times Book Review The most important--and provocative--anthropological fieldwork ever undertaken. --Tom Wolfe Revelatory. There is nothing about humans that is quite as astonishing as language. -- The Guardian A book whose importance is almost impossible to overstate. This is an intellectual cri de coeur and a profound celebration of human diversity. . . . Very rich but also very readable. -- The Sunday Times (London) [ Language ] is that rare thing: a warm linguistics book . . . A useful study of a burgeoning theory compatible with Darwinism, anthropology, psychology and philosophy--an interdisciplinary orientation the Chomskyans have largely spurned. -- The New York Times Book Review [ Language ] deserves a serious reading. -- The Economist Readers' eyes will . . . sparkle with new insight. -- Kirkus Reviews Everett's stories of the PirahA . . . bring to life the culture that fosters the language. The stories also anchor his linguistic proposals in anthropology. Most linguists might take this as an insult; Everett would accept it as a compliment. -- The Globe and Mail (Canada) [Everett lobs] a scientific grenade . . . into the spot where anthropology, linguistics and psychology meet: he asserts that the Piraha language exhibits traits that call into question aspects of linguistic theories that have been widely accepted for decades. -- Chicago Tribune Everett writes simply and persuasively about language. . . . His courage and conviction should give linguists pause for thought. -- The Observer (London)

Language: The Cultural Tool, full of intellectually omnivorous insights and reminiscences about Everett's years with the Piraha . . . is that rare thing: a warm linguistics book. . . . A useful study of a burgeoning theory compatible with Darwinism, anthropology, psychology and philosophy--an interdisciplinary orientation the Chomskyans have largely spurned. <br>-- The New York Times Book Review <br> Ambitious. . . . [Everett] doesn't shy from making big claims. <br>-- The New York Times <br> [ Language ] deserves a serious reading. <br>-- The Economist <br> [Everett's book] is revelatory. There is nothing about humans that is quite as astonishing as language. <br>-- The Guardian (London) <br> Everett has . . . produced a book whose importance is almost impossible to overstate. This is an intellectual cri de Coeur and a profound celebration of human diversity. After reading it, you will--should--care as much about disappearing languages as you do about the clubbed seal or the harpooned whale. . . . A very rich but also very readable book. Everett is not the first to challenge the reign of Chomsky, but he is the most accessible, and, thanks to his years in Amazonia, the most-intimately informed. <br>-- The Sunday Times (London) <br> A must-read for anyone having an interest in knowing what makes us human. . . . Everett resets the research agenda for linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience towards finding out how our biological endowment and culture interact, to form and shape the rich diversity apparent as we view the human condition. <br>--Philip Lieberman, Fred M. Seed Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, Professor of Anthropology, Brown University <br> Everett mounts an impassioned argument that language has adaptively emerged as our species' 'tool' for achieving social collectivity via discourse. He sharply questions today's doctrinal wisdom in the field of linguistics by giving it a pendulum-push back in

Author Information

Daniel L. Everett is dean of arts and sciences at Bentley University. He has held appointments in linguistics and/or anthropology at the University of Campinas, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Manchester, and Illinois State University. www.daneverettbooks.com

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