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The story of human language Discs 4, 5, 6

Course explores many of the common questions about language, such as: Why isn't there just a single language? Or, How does a language change, and when it does, is that change indicative of decay or growth? Course guidebook available at Reference Desk.

Main Author: McWhorter, John H.
Corporate Authors: Teaching Company.
Format: Videos DVD
Language: English
Published: Chantilly, Va. : Teaching Company, [2007], ©2004.
Series: Great courses (DVD). Social sciences.
Subjects:
Linguistic analysis (Linguistics)
Linguistics > History.
Linguistics > Study and teaching.
Dialectology.
Language and languages > Philosophy > History.
Documentary films.
Lectures.
Educational films.
Nonfiction films.
Table of Contents:
  • Part 1 : Lecture 1. What is language?
  • Lecture 2. When language began
  • Lecture 3. How language changes: sound change
  • Lecture 4. How language changes: building new material
  • Lecture 5. How language changes: meaning and order
  • Lecture 6. How language changes: many directions
  • Lecture 7. How language changes: modern English
  • Lecture 8. Language families: Indo-European
  • Lecture 9. Language families: tracing Indo-European
  • Lecture 10. Language families: diversity of structures
  • Lecture 11. Language families: clues to the past
  • Lecture 12. The case against the world's first language.
  • Part 2 : Lecture 13. The case for the world's first language
  • Lecture 14. Dialects: subspecies of species
  • Lecture 15. Dialects: where do you draw the line?
  • Lecture 16. Dialects: two tongues in one mouth
  • Lecture 17. Dialects: the standard as token of the past
  • Lecture 18. Dialects: spoken style, written style
  • Lecture 19. Dialects: the fallacy of blackboard grammar
  • Lecture 20. Language mixture: words
  • Lecture 21. Language mixture: grammar
  • Lecture 22. Language mixture: language areas
  • Lecture 23. Language develops beyond the call of duty
  • Lecture 24. Language interrupted.
  • Part 3 : Lecture 25. A new perspective on the story of English
  • Lecture 26. Does culture drive language change?
  • Lecture 27. Language starts over: Pidgins
  • Lecture 28. Language starts over: Creoles I
  • Lecture 29. Language starts over: Creoles II
  • Lecture 30. Language starts over: signs of the new
  • Lecture 31. Language starts over: the Creole continuum
  • Lecture 32. What is Black English?
  • Lecture 33. Language death: the problem
  • Lecture 34. Language death: prognosis
  • Lecture 35. Artificial languages
  • Lecture 36. Finale: master class.

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