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Just as archaeologists study fossils and ancient artifacts
for clues about mankind's origins, linguistic researchers today are sifting through
word roots and grammatical conventions and coming up with some startling revelations
about our beginnings. In The Origin of Language noted linguist Merritt
Ruhlen takes you on a fascinating journey of discovery back through nearly 100,000
years of human history and prehistory in pursuit of the language from which all
modern tongues derive. Requiring no prior familiarity
with linguistics, The Origin of Language is the first book to explain,
in laymen's terms, the controversial process by which linguists are tracing the
development of the vast range of human speech, sweeping aside many traditional
assumptions about the spread of language and the roots of the human family. In
addition to acquainting you with the manner in which such diverse languages as
English and Chinese can be compared, Dr. Ruhlen introduces you to the brilliant
mavericks whose linguistic theories are at last gaining worldwide acceptance.
He also discusses the exciting new work being done in genetics and archaeology
that corroborates much of the controversial linguistic evidence. But
more than simply describing his and his colleague's theories, Dr. Ruhlen invites
you to share in the joys of discovery. He arms you with the linguist's basic toolkit
and lets you work through the evidence for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
You'll classify languages and language families, trace language family trees,
and even reconstruct some of the basic vocabulary used by our most distant ancestors.
Also, based on clues provided by your research, you'll plot the land and sea routes
most likely taken by early humans in their diaspora out of Africa and to the four
corners of the world. While The Origin of Language
is an incomparable introduction to some of the most exciting linguistic research
now being conducted by researchers around the globe, it is also much more. It
is an inspiring invitation to join the quest for our human roots and to hear the
echoes of the Mother Tongue. Merritt Ruhlen, Ph.D.,
is one of the world's foremost linguists and his work has been featured in nearly
every recent major article on the history of language. He has been praised for
writing clearly on complex linguistic subjects for the layman. Of his book, A
Guide to the World's Languages, The Atlantic Monthly said, "[it
is] easily the most accessible book of its kind." Dr.
Ruhlen received his Ph.D. in linguistics from Stanford University. He also studied
linguistics at the University of Paris, the University of Bucharest, and the University
of Illinois. He speaks both French and Rumanian fluently and reads Russian, Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian, and Latin. Dr. Ruhlen has published more than forty articles,
monographs, and books on various topics in linguistics, and lectured in recent
years at numerous universities in the U.S. and abroad. |
