Showing results for "Languages" in History

When conflicts become entrenched over generations, the language of war infiltrates everyday life, concealing destruction and hardening positions. Nowhere is this truer than in the Middle East. Award-winning author Raja Shehadeh explores the politics of language and the language of politics in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reflecting on the walls that they create - legal and cultural - that confine today's Palestinians just like the borders, checkpoints and so-called "Separation Barrier".

Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct.

What is our species' greatest invention? Medicine, computers, space travel? Not even close. The innovation that underlies each of our past achievements and those we still aspire to is language. Language is the ultimate invention of Homo sapiens - one that has allowed us to change the physical and social world around us in every conceivable way, and an invention that has fundamentally changed us, as well.

Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.

Mankind has a distinct advantage over other terrestrial species: we talk to one another. But how did we acquire the most advanced form of communication on Earth? Daniel L. Everett, a "bombshell" linguist and "instant folk hero" (Tom Wolfe, Harper's), provides in this sweeping history a comprehensive examination of the evolutionary story of language, from the earliest speaking attempts by hominids to the more than 7,000 languages that exist today.

Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University takes you back through time and around the world, following the linguistic trails left by generations of humans that lead back to the beginnings of language. Utilizing historical theories and cutting-edge research, these 34 astonishing lectures will introduce you to the major language families of the world and their many offspring, including a variety of languages that are no longer spoken but provide vital links between past and present.

Drawing on evidence from many fields, including archaeology, anthropology, neurology and linguistics, Sverker Johansson weaves these disparate threads together to show how our human ancestors evolved into language users. The Dawn of Language provides a fascinating survey of how grammar came into being and the differences or similarities between languages spoken around the world, before exploring how language eventually emerged in the very remote human past.

يَرْوي كتاب «25 يوماً إلى عدن» القصةَ الحقيقية لتشكيلِ دُولِ الخليج العربي، خلالَ أسبوعٍ واحد، تحالُفاً من عشرِ دُولٍ، أطلَقَ أكبرَ عمليةٍ عسكرية تُشَنُّ من طرفٍ واحد. وقد تَعرَّضَت تلك الحملةُ لفتراتٍ من المدِّ والجَزْر؛ حيث كانت المُقاوَمةُ الجنوبية أحياناً على شفيرِ أن تُسحَق وهي تُقاتِل والبحرُ من ورائها، لكنها تَمكَّنَت من الصمودِ، وهزَمَت الغُزاةَ في نهاية المَطاف وانطلَقَت في إثْرِهم. إنها قصَّةٌ مُذهِلة تَرْوي كيف تَمكَّنَت جيوشٌ عربية من إنجازِ ما لم تَستطِع الولاياتُ المتحدة الأمريكية إنجازَه؛ أيْ مَنْع إيران من الحصول على مَوطِئِ قَدَمٍ في شِبه الجزيرة العربية. كما يروي الكتاب كيف تَمكَّنَت قواتٌ عربية خاصَّة من «قتالِ شبحٍ آتٍ من الجبال، بجوارِ أهمِّ مَعْبَرٍ بَحْريٍّ في العالَم»، مِثلما رَوى أحدُ المُقاتِلين المُشارِكين في الحَمْلة.

This is the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language. The Adventure of English is not only an enthralling story of power, religion, and trade, but also the story of people, and how their lives continue to change the extraordinary language that is English.

Here, Cosimo proudly presents Book 1 of Ancient Egypt, in which Massey argues that “primitive man” found no human agency in the phenomena of the natural world, which led to a woeful misinterpretation of Egyptian hieroglyphics by the Greeks and Romans as well as a misunderstanding of the essence of Egyptian mythology. As a consequence, Massey contends, a deep fount of wisdom of the ancients has been lost, and he goes on to reveal how it can be rediscovered.

ارتبطتْ تجربةُ المرض تاريخياً بتصورات ومعتقدات ذات طابعٍ عابر للثقافات. وقد حاولت المجتمعات في ضوئها تأويل الألم الناجم عن تلك التجربة، وإيجاد معنى لها عبر توجيهها لاستيعاب أبعاد روحية، وقيم أخلاقية، بهدف التعايش مع مآلاتها النفسية والجسدية والاجتماعية.

يقدم هذا الكتاب مقاربة ثقافية لتجربة المرض وتمثيلاتها في السرود العربية -الروائية، والسيرية - التي توقفت عند هذه التجربة الإنسانية، واتخذتها مادة للكتابة، وكَرَّست المرض ثيمةً أو موتيفاً، وانخرطت في عملية إنتاج دلالات ثقافية واجتماعية وسياسية جديدة له عبر استثمار الإمكانات الرمزية والتأويلية التي ينطوي عليها.

يبحث الكتاب التصورات السوسيوثقافية للمرض والجسد وعلاقة المريض بالمؤسسة الطبية. وقد تم اختيار نماذجَ بعينها، بغرض مقاربةِ مقولاتِها الأدبية والفكرية والإنسانية، وما تنطوي عليه من أبعاد فكرية وجمالية وأخلاقية.

If youve ever attempted to learn German—or even if you havent—this delightful short essay is sure to tickle your funny bone. Originally published as Appendix D in Twain’s 1880 classic, *A Tramp Abroad*, this comedic treasure humorously navigates the complicated maze of German grammar, from perplexing cases and tricky adjective endings to baffling noun genders and verb placements. Join us for a lighthearted exploration of the linguistic challenges that make German a uniquely entertaining language! (Summary by Kara)

Yiddish with Rukhl is a limited series podcast for people who love spoken Yiddish, brought to you by the Forward/Forverts. In a 15-20 minute podcast, Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter shares engaging articles written in conversational Yiddish. She explains how listeners can benefit from the experience of hearing Yiddish, even if their knowledge of the language is at the intermediate level.

In this ambitious book, Jieun Kiaer explores the lives of English words in the twenty-first century, when the creation and use of language has become an increasingly dynamic, interactive, and diverse process in which ordinary people have taken leading roles—offering such coinages as "flexitarian," "MeToo," "glow up," and "s--tizen" to "No sabo kids" and beyond. As English language grows ever more diverse, Kiaer believes, we need a paradigm shift.

Brought to you by Penguin. ‘We were so happy and didn’t know it…’ A thirty-three-year-old writer lives in a quiet European suburb with his wife and his dog. His parents have bought an apartment nearby. On weekends they go out for brunch, cook and see friends. Life is good; it is normal...

Anton Treuer has been at the forefront of the battle to revitalize Ojibwe for many years. In this impassioned argument, he discusses the interrelationship between language and culture, the problems of language loss, strategies and tactics for resisting, and the inspiring stories of successful language warriors. He recounts his own sometimes hilarious struggle to learn Ojibwe as an adult, and he depicts the astonishing success of the language program at Lac Courte Oreilles, where a hundred children now speak Ojibwe as their first language.

Nephi puts us on notice in his very first sentence that The Book of Mormon was written by temple worshippers and for temple worshippers. He and the other prophets of The Book of Mormon, who called themselves the visionary men and the peaceable followers of Christ, knew and practiced a mystery, an ordinance by which they ascended through the temple and entered into the presence of God. This ordinance was embodied in a dramatic representation of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden and their return to it, in which initiates played the roles of Adam and Eve or their descendants.

Mining information from mythology, folklore, religious texts, and fairy tales from around the world, a foremost expert on symbols explains word origins and their meanings. The ultimate symbols are the letters and words in language as Bayley moves beyond mere pictures to understand the vital messages that have been ignored or lost across the centuries.

يرسم هذا الكتابُ النابضُ بالحيويَّة، والرائعُ في سردياته وتحليلاته المُتقَنة والموثَّقة، المراحلَ التي جرى عبر تواليها المُثير تشكيلُ صُعود العالَم الحديث. ويروي كيف تزامَنَ ذلك وترابطَ بِنيويّاً مع ظهور الدَّساتير المكتوبة وانتشارها، وتوالي الحروب الموسَّعة والهجينة، وصراع القوى الكبرى على امتداد قارَّات العالَم الحديث، عبر القرون الثلاثة الماضية الحافلة بالأحداث. ويلمس القارئُ بين فقراته كيف يتضافر الأسلوبُ البياني للمؤلِّفة بسردياته المُحكمة، مع الرُّسوم الرائعة المُضافة إليه، ليجعل منه عملاً تاريخيّاً ممتعاً، تتفاعل فيه نُخبة مُبهرة من الحروب التأسيسيَّة الفاصلة والقادة الأقوياء والمُشرِّعين ذوي البصيرة والثُّوار المُخلِصين لقضايا أوطانهم وشعوبهم؛ فيعيد سردَ قصَّةِ نشوءِ الحُكم الدُّستوري، وتطوُّر الأفكار حول معنى الحداثة وما تحمِله من جَوهر

If you have a passion for text or language skills, you can discover more of yourself and help others engage with the wider world too. It doesn’t matter what your skill level is, or how old you are. Text matters in this video-obsessed world, and it still connects us. In “Language as Purpose,” Yurika Foster speaks with guests about the talents that humans have (above machines) and about how communicating can be an asset to our mental health. Explore how language can be part of your purpose - or a hobby - and how it helps us understand other cultures as well as our own.