9780674295193_

A sweeping exploration of the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, color, and smells.

We tend to assume that all languages categorize ideas and objects similarly, reflecting our common human experience. But this isnt the case. When we look closely, we find that many basic concepts are not universal, and that speakers of different languages literally see and think about the world differently.

Caleb Everett takes readers around the globe, explaining what linguistic diversity tells us about human culture, overturning conventional wisdom along the way. For instance, though it may seem that everybody refers to time in spatial termsin English, for example, we speak of time passing us byspeakers of the Amazonian language Tupi Kawahib never do. In fact, Tupi Kawahib has no word for time at all. And while it has long been understood that languages categorize colors based on those that speakers regularly encounter, evidence suggests that the color words we have at our disposal affect how we discriminate colors themselves: a rose may not appear as rosy by any other name. Whats more, the terms available to us even determine the range of smells we can identify. European languages tend to have just a few abstract odor words, like floral or stinky, whereas Indigenous languages often have well over a dozen.

Why do some cultures talk anthropocentrically about things being to ones left or right, while others use geocentric words like east and west? What is the connection between what we eat and the sounds we make? A Myriad of Tongues answers these and other questions, yielding profound insights into the fundamentals of human communication and experience.

...(*_*)9780674295193_

"An assured guide" (New Scientist) to the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, color, and smells.

...(*_*)9780674295193_

An award-winning look at the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, color, and smells.

We tend to assume that all languages categorize ideas and objects similarly, reflecting our common human experience. But in fact many basic concepts are not universal. Speakers of different languages literally see and think about the world differently.

Caleb Everett takes readers around the globe, explaining what linguistic diversity shows us about human culture. For instance, though we may think that everybody refers to time in spatial termsin English, it passes us byspeakers of the Amazonian language Tupi Kawahib never do. In fact, Tupi Kawahib has no word for time at all. And while it has long been understood that languages categorize colors that speakers regularly encounter, evidence also suggests that the color words at our disposal affect how we actually perceive colors. Similarly, the terms available to us affect the range of smells we can identify.

Why do some cultures talk anthropocentrically about things being to ones left or right, while others use geocentric words like east and west? What is the connection between what we eat and the sounds we make? A Myriad of Tongues answers these and other questions, yielding profound insights into fundamentals of human communication and experience.

...(*_*)9780674295193_

An award-winning look at the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, color, and smells.

Caleb Everett takes readers around the globe, explaining what linguistic diversity shows us about human culture. For instance, though we may think that everybody refers to time in spatial terms—in English, it “passes us by”—speakers of the Amazonian language Tupi Kawahib never do. In fact, Tupi Kawahib has no word for “time” at all. And while it has long been understood that languages categorize colors that speakers regularly encounter, evidence also suggests that the color words at our disposal affect how we actually perceive colors. Similarly, the terms available to us affect the range of smells we can identify.

Why do some cultures talk anthropocentrically about things being to one’s “left” or “right,” while others use geocentric words like “east” and “west”? What is the connection between what we eat and the sounds we make? A Myriad of Tongues answers these and other questions, yielding profound insights into fundamentals of human communication and experience.

n(*_*)9780674295193_

"An assured guide" (New Scientist) to the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, color, and smells.

We tend to assume that all languages categorize ideas and objects similarly, reflecting our common human experience. But this isn’t the case. When we look closely, we find that many basic concepts are not universal, and that speakers of different languages literally see and think about the world differently.

Caleb Everett takes readers around the globe, explaining what linguistic diversity tells us about human culture, overturning conventional wisdom along the way. For instance, though it may seem that everybody refers to time in spatial terms—in English, for example, we speak of time “passing us by”—speakers of the Amazonian language Tupi Kawahib never do. In fact, Tupi Kawahib has no word for “time” at all. And while it has long been understood that languages categorize colors based on those that speakers regularly encounter, evidence suggests that the color words we have at our disposal affect how we discriminate colors themselves: a rose may not appear as rosy by any other name. What’s more, the terms available to us even determine the range of smells we can identify. European languages tend to have just a few abstract odor words, like “floral” or “stinky,” whereas Indigenous languages often have well over a dozen.

Why do some cultures talk anthropocentrically about things being to one’s “left” or “right,” while others use geocentric words like “east” and “west”? What is the connection between what we eat and the sounds we make? A Myriad of Tongues answers these and other questions, yielding profound insights into the fundamentals of human communication and experience.

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