#234 overall
Introduction to Human Language (John McWhorter)
The Great Courses
2 recommenders · 2 threads · recommended in 2 years, 2023–2024 · score 1.8
A lecture series by linguist John McWhorter covering the nature of human language, including how languages evolve and how the brain processes different kinds of language-like input. It is sold through The Great Courses, now Wondrium, and Audible.
Commenters call McWhorter's course informative and entertaining, praising its coverage of language evolution and the brain's handling of spoken and written language.
Humanities & Social Sciencebeginnerpaidvideo lectures#linguistics#language evolution#neurolinguistics#mcwhorter
Recommendations by year
20062026
A bit offtopic, but if you are interested in languages, the great courses by John McWhorter are some of the most informative and entertaining resources on the subject that I have come across. He provides a wealth of knowledge on language evolution, both as to how they tend to evolve and how they actually did evolve, and he provides it in a way that makes you sad it's over.
You can find them on Audible, I think some are available with the monthly subscription, but it is definitely worth the money.
Linguist John McWhorter has a fantastic course on human language on The Great Courses / Wondrium / Audible.
He specifically talks about this! Apparently the spoken word, the written word, song lyrics, and numbers are all processed in different parts of the brain almost as if they were different languages. He even mentions the same phenomenon as you and I think he also said this is the first part that gets hardwired into your brain as a kid, leaving you stuck counting in your mother tongue forever.