Reviews

The Unfolding of Language

an evolutionary tour of mankind's greatest invention

by Guy Deutscher

Digest of Reviews

CNN.com: The word from the beginning.

American Scientist: Interview with Guy Deutscher

I was enthralled by Guy Deutscher's The Unfolding of Language, a history of how words came to take the forms they do, and therefore a history of the forms of the human mind. AS BYATT (favourite books of the year) - THE GUARDIAN, 26.11.2005.

Extremely thought-provoking. This book will stretch your mind. INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Witty, thought-provoking, constantly surprising. KIRKUS (starred review)

Unfolding is the kind of book that brings new order to the world, making connections leap out at you wherever you look, and it's exciting that Deutscher has made the fruits of linguistics so readily available. AUSTIN CHRONICLE

Powerful and thrilling... The reader feels at times he is glimpsing something primordial, beyond Ur and Babylon, all but obliterated. THE SPECTATOR

Deutscher's entertaining writing and his knack for telling a good tale offer a delightful and charming story of language. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Deutscher is illuminating on everything. THE INDEPENDENT

Learning about the forces and processes involved in language evolution can be spine-tingling, and Deutscher packs "The Unfolding of Language" with thrill-rides SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

A witty and authoritative account. This is an absorbing and entertaining book. THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE

Really ought to be read... by anyone who persists in complaining that the English language is going to the dogs. SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Fine book... packed full of gems and draws widely, not just from English but also from an impressive range of world languages... This is a book which manages to distil much knowledge and insight into an accessible narrative. Anybody with a curiosity about language, its origins and future prospects will enjoy it and learn much from it. SUNDAY BUSINESS POST (IRELAND)

This elegantly, wittily written tale about how language grows, erodes, shifts and changes over time is absolutely delightful. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

This evolutionary journey feels throbbingly vital. EAST BAY EXPRESS

An engaging introduction for the general reader to language history and change. CHICAGO TRIBUNE

An informative and thought-provoking guide. THE GUARDIAN

Guy Deutscher makes an original and brave attempt to answer one of the most difficult questions in linguistics: where did language come from?... he writes clearly and effectively, and it’s hard to imagine a more accessible work. Michael Quinion in WORLD WIDE WORDS

Exciting, witty, and a masterpiece of contemporary scholarship - Elizabeth Closs Traugott, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and English, Stanford University

At last, an entertaining and readable book that presents the most current views on language and its evolution. Deutscher recreates for his readers the joy of discovering that many of the forces that created language for the first time are still in action today - Joan Bybee, Professor of Linguistics, University of New Mexico

Thoroughly enjoyable. Guy Deutscher is an erudite and entertaining guide through the paradoxes and complexities of language evolution - Gene Gragg, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, University of Chicago

More Reviews

Guy Deutscher’s highly original study of the evolution of language …is extremely thought-provoking. He starts with a thorough exegesis of a familiar idea. Noting the tendency of people to complain that their language is in decay, he demonstrates that such complaints are as old as recorded language itself… Anglo-Saxon has a complex system of grammar based around word endings, whereas modern English does not: child and children, is and are, may and might are about as complex as we get. But this immediately raises a question: if decay and simplification are constant and universal as Deutscher suggests, how did those regular and complex languages come to exist in the first place? Deutscher’s chosen task is to unravel that paradox, and he does so brilliantly, withholding the secret with great skill. If I told you how it works, you wouldn't buy the book. Suffice to say that his explanation is both clever and convincing. Metaphor, a lethal weapon in the wrong hands, proves to be central. After that, he …attempt[s] to explain the development of language, starting with what he calls "Me Tarzan, You Jane" grammar and arriving at modern English. This too is fascinating though perhaps less convincing. Along the way there are many intriguing byways and diversions, with illustrations taken from languages ranging from Welsh and Basque to Nahuatl and Mursi.… Deutscher's central hypothesis… is extremely resonant. This book will stretch your mind. INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 15.5.05 (John Morrish)

Unfolding is the kind of book that brings new order to the world, making connections leap out at you wherever you look, and it's exciting that Deutscher has made the fruits of linguistics so readily available… Deutscher, with his always slightly amused tone, manages to turn this ambitiously comprehensive, globe-trotting book – complete with a bonus history of the linguistics discipline itself – into a great layman's read without sacrificing the integrity of the material, packing the juiciest stuff into the front and preserving the rest for the truly hooked in the appendices in the back. For anyone who's ever wondered how we got from Shakespeare's English to ours, Unfolding will more than satisfy. AUSTIN CHRONICLE 8.7.05 (Nora Ankrum)

Learning about the forces and processes involved in language evolution can be spine-tingling, and Deutscher packs "The Unfolding of Language" with thrill-rides such as a description of how the wearing away of complex forms (e.g., case endings in English) leads ultimately to new, if different, complexity; an explanation of why the ability to employ metaphor was essential to the development of language; a history lesson on how every generation - going back thousands of years! - believes that its language, as "now" spoken, is but a crude remnant of its recent, golden age. Probably the most electrifying chapter … concerns the development of the Semitic verb system. Such an elegant, intricate and consummately logical structure, it was long thought, could only have been a deliberate, conscious invention (call it "intelligent design," if you're looking to pick a fight), as no such structure could possibly have emerged through evolution. But Deutscher takes us through a series of hypothetical steps that demonstrate just how such a structure could, and likely, did develop. When the last piece falls into place, the feeling is akin to the jolt of pleasure one gets from comprehending, in an instant and at last, the steps involved in proving congruency in two triangles. SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE 14.8.2005 (Arthur Salm)

The story of language from a multilingual perspective. Deutscher (Linguistics/Univ. of Leiden) takes particular effort to trace the way languages evolved into and from the complex structures we see in the Latin noun declensions or the Semitic verb system, to cite two examples. While many self-anointed experts decry the decay of language from a more perfect state, Deutscher argues that the same mechanisms work to build and to destroy linguistic structures. Prime among them are economy, novelty and analogy. Economy (more accurately, laziness) leads to dropping syllables or slurring vowels to make pronunciation easier. For example, the French word for the month of August, Aot (pronounced "oo") began as "Augustus," after the Roman emperor. Novelty often takes the form of metaphor, seeking new ways to express the abstract: "thrilled" originally meant "pierced," as by a spear-a sensation somewhat sharper than what is usually referred to by this word. And analogy leads us to apply known rules to unfamiliar situations, as when a young child says "foots" or "drinked." Deutscher smoothly combines a historical survey of linguistics with fascinating examples from both ancient and modern languages, showing family relationships between such words as "have" and "capture." The Semitic verb system uses unpronounceable triplets of consonants as its roots, fleshing them out with elaborate matrices of vowels to give the various spoken forms. Irregularities in this astonishingly complex system help us understand how it must have grown from a primitive system of roots modified by auxiliaries, much in the way that verb systems in other languages are believed to have evolved. Perhaps the most remarkable conclusion is that even the most elaborate languages are the product not of a single brilliant inventor, but of thousands of ordinary people, creating-almost by accident-one of the most profound and beautiful structures humanity has ever created. Witty, thought-provoking, constantly surprising. KIRKUS (starred review) February 2005

Using language himself in a lively and engaging way, Deutscher, an expert in Semitic languages at the University of Leiden in Holland, identifies two principles—the desire to create order out of chaotic reality, and the urge to vary the sounds of words and their meanings—providing the direction by which language developed and continues to develop. Rather than search for the prehistoric moment when speech originated, Deutscher says we can most profitably understand the phenomenon by taking the present as the key to the past. Using a wide array of examples, he delves into the back-formation of words (making a noun into a verb), the evolution of relative clauses from simple pointing words (that, this) and the turning of objects into nouns. On the question of whether language is innate, Deutscher takes a middle path, asserting that our brains are wired for basic language, but that linguistic complexity is brought about by cultural evolution. Deutscher's entertaining writing and his knack for telling a good tale about how words develop offer a delightful and charming story of language. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 21.3.2005

The linguistic chain that connects the boasts of an ancient Sumerian monarch to the jests of Groucho Marx is long and convoluted, but Deutscher retraces it, fascinating link by fascinating link, identifying the dynamic processes that have continuously transformed and renewed the world’s diverse languages. Even when delving deeply into ancient manuscripts and temple engravings, Deutscher interprets every linguistic mutation as the consequence of evolutionary forces still observable in today’s living languages. Readers see in linguistic fossils from Mesopotamia traces of the same conversion of living metaphor into conceptual lattice still taking place in modern English, German, and Indonesian. What Deutscher demonstrates most clearly is how linguistic structures that look like the product of deliberate artifice can emerge from entirely natural processes. Predictably, when he probes the linguistic developments before the advent of writing, the author must frequently substitute his own speculations for solid evidence. Entailing just enough technical detail to tempt readers into professional sources (listed at the book’s conclusion), this introduction to fundamental linguistic principles opens to nonspecialists a rich theoretical vista. BOOKLIST MAGAZINE 1. 4. 2005 (Bryce Christensen).

This sprightly introduction to historical linguistics reveals the complexities the least articulate of us masters in a lifetime, and the number of ways the world's societies have found to skin a communicative cat. ... Deutscher does a remarkable job in a book which is full of lively interest. THE SCOTSMAN (***** = "Superlative"), 28.5. 2005 (Michael Kerrigan)

The Unfolding of Language maps the growth of language in general -- from prehistoric times when "all that was required at the 'Me Tarzan' stage were words for physical objects and actions" to today, when combined forces of change "have fashioned the structure of language in all its prolix splendor." ... From the etymology of "grotty" to ancient hieroglyphics to Arabic templates to the unique verb-before-noun sentence structure shared by Maori and Welsh, this evolutionary journey feels throbbingly vital. EAST BAY EXPRESS, 25.5. 2005 (Anneli Rufus)

(Sue Baker’s Personal Choice) The degradation of language is a natural process: some words shorten and elide, while other phrases and words become more elaborate, in their turn facing the same decaying process. People have been decrying the state of the language for centuries; our perfect English is yesterday’s horror, and Deutscher’s accessible and entertaining book will hopefully silence all those harrumphing critics who predict the downfall of our language. PUBLISHING NEWS (UK), 15.10. 2004.

The Unfolding of Language brings the extraordinary insights of modern linguistics to a wider audience with some considerable skill. Avoiding the pitfalls of “Golden Age-ism'‘, this study argues that “languages were no more perfect in prehistoric times than they are now'‘; it's just that many of the irregularities of the past have been lost to history “like yesterday's footprints on a sand dune'‘. Change, in the form of constant destruction and creation of linguistic elements, is a constant feature of all languages, it would seem. But who, or what, drives this process of change in the language we speak? Deutscher uses the analogy of a traffic jam to explain these developments. Generally speaking, nobody sets out on a journey with the idea of creating a tailback, “and yet each driver contributes to the congestion by adding one more car to an overcrowded road'‘. It is the “accumulated spontaneous actions'' of a critical mass of individuals that makes the larger phenomenon happen. Language speakers have three main motives impelling them to change the language they speak. We all have a tendency towards “economy'‘ - taking shortcuts in pronunciation that can cause older, more complex forms of speech to decay. We also have a tendency towards “expressiveness'' which can lead to the creation of new language forms. How often do we embellish a simple “no'' with add-ons like “not at all'‘, “not a bit'‘, “by no means'' or “not in a million years'‘, which are not technically necessary? The third motive for change, argues Deutscher, stems from the human mind's craving for order. In other words, new innovations can take place but generally within the “rules'‘ that exist. For example, the adjective “grotty'‘ (short for grotesque) was made popular by George Harrison in A Hard Day's Night in 1964. By the late 1970s, a new noun had evolved from it. “Grot'‘ will be forever associated with the BBC sitcom character Reggie Perrin, but the noun itself was formed by dropping the “y'‘ from the adjective, in accordance with the existing rules of English grammar. The Unfolding of Language is packed full of gems like this and draws widely, not just from English but also from an impressive range of world languages... This is a book which manages to distil much knowledge and insight into an accessible narrative. Anybody with a curiosity about language, its origins and future prospects will enjoy it and learn much from it. SUNDAY BUSINESS POST 26.6. 2005 (P J Matthews)

Academic Reviews

AMERICAN SCIENTIST (Jan-Feb 2006 issue) Languages are constantly changing - being endlessly reinvented and reworked by the people who use them. In his compelling new book, The Unfolding of Language, Guy Deutscher argues that the same simple processes that underlie the rich and dynamic variety of modern human languages can also explain the initial emergence of complex language from its primitive beginnings. Deutscher illuminates his absorbing analysis of humanity’s "greatest invention" with a detailed investigation of what he identifies as the three main forces of change: economy, expressiveness and analogy. The majority of the book consists of a captivating journey through linguistic history, as Deutscher illustrates these simple forces of change with numerous interesting examples from many different languages, both ancient and modern, familiar and exotic. In doing so, he explains such divergent linguistic phenomena as the development of case endings, how prepositions are created from words for parts of the body and, most impressively, the gradual evolution of the spectacular complexity of the Semitic verbal system. The Unfolding of Language is a stimulating, informative and immensely readable account of language change and evolution, which will appeal both to the professional linguist and to those interested in understanding more about why language is the way it is. Although he occasionally strays into a self-consciously erudite style of humor, Deutscher’s writing is admirably accessible, and his enthusiasm for his subject is unmistakable and infectious. He has produced a fascinating book, which argues lucidly and persuasively that we can explain the remote history of language by understanding its recent past and its ongoing evolution. (Andrew D. M. Smith)

THE LINGUIST LIST (16.2681 15.9.2005) The Unfolding of Language provides a thoroughly readable, popular-science style discussion of the evolution of language. Deutscher's central thesis is that the same processes of destruction and creation which account for attested change in language can also provide an explanation for the origins of linguistic structure… This is an extremely enjoyable book to read…. It is not just an entertaining read, however, tackling as it does some complex subject matter in a manner which is always enthusiastic, always engaging, and ultimately, always understandable. The topics covered in chapters 1-5 may be fairly standard historical linguistics fare, but the wit and clarity of their exposition make this book worth a look for these alone… The chapters "This Marvellous Invention" and "The Unfolding of Language", where Deutscher tackles the origins of linguistic structure, make the book. These chapters broaden the scope of the book beyond the traditional confines of historical linguistics to deal with a question which will, I imagine, excite the imaginations of a wide readership. …An excellent book.” (Kenny Smith)