Drawing on recent, groundbreaking discoveries in modern linguistics, The Unfolding of Language exposes the elusive forces of creation at work in human communication, giving us fresh insight into how language is formed, evolves, and decays. It traces the emergence of linguistic complexity from an early evolutionary “Me Tarzan” stage all the way to the expressive power of languages today, with their intricate engineering which allows them to convey unrestrictedly complex thoughts and ideas.

Arguing that destruction and creation in language are intimately entwined,The Unfolding of Language shows how these processes are continuously in operation, generating new words, new structures, and new meanings. From the written records of lost civilizations to the spoken idiom of today’s streets, we move nimbly from ancient Babylonian through medieval French to the English of the present.  We marvel at the staggering triumph of design that is the Semitic verb, puzzle over single words that can express highly elaborate sentiments, such as the Turkish  sehirlilestiremediklerimizdensiniz (“you are one of those whom we couldn’t turn into a town-dweller”), and learn how great changes of pronunciation may result from an age old human habit - simple laziness. Through the dramatic story of The Unfolding of Language, we discover the genius behind a uniquely human faculty.