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The Language Hoax
- Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Japanese has a term that covers both green and blue. Russian has separate terms for dark and light blue. Does this mean that Russians perceive these colors differently from Japanese people? Does language control and limit the way we think?
This short, opinionated audiobook addresses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that the language we speak shapes the way we perceive the world. Linguist John McWhorter argues that while this idea is mesmerizing, it is plainly wrong. It is language that reflects culture and worldview, not the other way around. The fact that a language has only one word for eat, drink, and smoke doesn't mean its speakers don't process the difference between food and beverage, and those who use the same word for blue and green perceive those two colors just as vividly as others do. McWhorter shows not only how the idea of language as a lens fails but also why we want so badly to believe it: We're eager to celebrate diversity by acknowledging the intelligence of peoples who may not think like we do. Though well intentioned, our belief in this idea poses an obstacle to a better understanding of human nature and even trivializes the people we seek to celebrate. The reality--that all humans think alike--provides another, better way for us to acknowledge the intelligence of all peoples.
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What listeners say about The Language Hoax
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rachel
- 03-24-16
I really love listening to language--and McWhorter
Maybe this type of thing is just my cup of tea. I've listened to quite a few books about the development of language including the Great Courses one by John H. McWhorter. I have consistently found them fascinating and well done.
This is a short book, mostly McWhorter refuting the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis with some explanation of what that is and a bunch of explanation of why McWhorter doesn't agree with it (or, really, why he doesn't agree with the popular culture understanding of it).
Even though this book repeated some stuff I was already familiar with, it's well done and interesting. McWhorter is a joy to listen to. He's funny, easy to follow and talks bout interesting linguistics stuff.
However, if you're ready to dive in and enjoy, I'd start with the Great Courses' "The Story of Human Language" also by McWhorter--it's significantly longer and packed with information. I'm just going to sit her waiting for him to write more. Or maybe I'll re-listen to The Story of Human Language, too.
28 people found this helpful
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- khaledalyami001
- 07-24-16
A linguistic masterpiece
I loved this book from A to Z. This is a linguistic magnficient masterpiece. 👍
8 people found this helpful
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- Dillon
- 05-30-16
Wonder Book
this is a wonderful book with lots of citation to help drive home the point that it's trying to make. The author has gone through a lot of painstaking work to portray his subject matter with his much care and due diligence as possible while still refuting the overarching claim flowing from it. his care and appreciation that he shows is a nice break from the standard yelling matches that seem to plague us. also since it is written and read by the same man there is a level of craftsmanship and naturalness to the reading of this book that was quite refreshing. I would recommend this book to almost anyone.
6 people found this helpful
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- Beth
- 12-04-20
good, but not the usual
I have listened to a lot of Mcwhorter's work. This is just as thoroughly researched and accessibly explanatory as any of his offerings. It's obvious, however, that this one is different. It lacks the lightness and silliness he brings to most of his teaching. I still enjoyed it. I still learned a lot. But it lacked the essence of humor I have grown to expect from him.
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- Nadia
- 09-30-21
As a russian let me tell you..
Синий и голубой ("siniy" and "goluboi") are different colours! And the fact that the author of this book keeps returning to these words and mentioning them in the context of "the russians see the sky and blueberries as two different colours- how wacky!" - is mind-boggling! They ARE different colours. They are as different as red and pink, and yellow and orange. You don't call pink colour "light red".
=(
4 people found this helpful
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- Ilzo A. Mendes
- 06-28-19
A magnificent work
Professor McWhorter is brilliant in his evaluation of the Whorf Sapir hypotheses that language shapes human thought within the culture in which each individual is a part. I just miss his performance at the Great Courses where he is totally oral, chaotic and wonderful. But here we have a book and the formality of a book. Yet he not only recites his own book. The manifesto, as he calls himself, has his personal charm. I recommend and much everything he writes and even more his courses.
4 people found this helpful
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- K
- 01-13-18
An Entertaining Rant, I Think
I actually really enjoyed him tearing into Neo-Whorfianism. Probably more than I should have.
An article about the Chen study literally popped up on my twitter feed the day before I listened to the chapter that talked about it. I'll be citing this book for my responses.
I really like his lecture style and have several other audio books as well. My favorite are his Great Courses lectures, but I feel that this one is also a good resource.
4 people found this helpful
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- Elisabeth Carey
- 01-29-21
A look at the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
In this book, John McWhorter takes on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, with vigor and enthusiasm, and his usual excellent research.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis says, basically, that language shapes the way we see and understand the world. One example, a fairly basic one, is that Japanese has one word that identifies both blue and green, while Russian has one word for dark blue and another word for light blue. Does this mean the Japanese can't see different shades of blue and green as clearly as Russians can?
No. The Japanese can see these colors just as well; they just describe them differently.
A more complex example is verb tenses. English has a future tense, a verb tense we use to refer to the future. "I will go out tomorrow." Many other languages, do too, but also many other languages don't have a future tense. Does this mean the speakers of those languages can't plan for the future?
No. Once again, they can anticipate the future, refer to it, plan for it. They just use other means of doing so, often context-dependent.
McWhorter explains this much better than I can, and takes on the idea not just as bad linguistics, but as bad linguistics that, while it originated in a desire to recognize the worth of non-Western or "primitive" cultures, has a pernicious tendency to promote condescension towards other cultures, and a certain ethnocentrism, accepting our own language and culture as obviously the standard.
While not having the lightness and well-used, intentional silliness that enlivens some of his other works, he makes excellent, informative, and entertaining use of the differences among languages in the course of explaining what he sees as wrong in much Sapir-Whorf analysis. And it should be noted, in this context, that English, far from being the obviously normal language we who speak it as our native tongue tend to assume, is in many ways downright weird, an outlier in many ways.
The same, of course, is true of other languages. Each language has evolved on its own path, and the changes are often happenstance, not response to anything to do with the environment of their speakers. Culture and language aren't all that closely related.
It's a fascinating listen, and well worth your time.
I bought this audiobook.
2 people found this helpful
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- Michael D.
- 03-18-15
Excellent work
Great manifesto, intellectually sharp and very entertaining. Recommended for any "language head" who has ever wondered about the influence language itself has on human thought or culture.
2 people found this helpful
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- Jeffrey Scholz
- 09-09-20
Short and sweet
I just finished “The Language Hoax” by John McWhorter. It’s short and sweet (5.5 hour listen on Audible). His thesis is that spoken language does not impact thinking or cultural values in a meaningful way, and despite the wide variety of grammars and vocabularies across cultures, the thought that gets encoded is the same. Popular conceptions like some cultures are more likely to prepare for the future based off of the presence or a sense of future tenses, or that some cultures are more likely to be skeptical because of the presence or absence of epistemological grammar are his targets.
To make his case, he draws from a wide variety of languages which often have entertaining and unexpected quirks. The wide survey across a very broad spectrum of languages alone makes it worth the price of admission.
The author is a professional linguist and as such, the quality of the prose is reflected in the book. The author is very gracious towards his opponents. Nonetheless, self-styled sophisticates who see too many patterns in noise, who congratulate themselves because of a surface level knowledge of other cultures or languages, and who fail to see their own hypocrisy in ivory-tower xenocentrism get taken down a notch.
The book is concise, cogent, easy to digest, and sociologically relevant.
As other reviews have noticed, this book is better listened to than read so you can savor the author’s enunciation of obscure languages a casual reader would have no chance of pronouncing correctly.
1 person found this helpful
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- Azura S
- 11-24-20
Fantastic Work
I like my intellectual content robust and this is superbly delivered with genuine contempt for a competing and seemingly foolish theory. First class and I will be listening to more by this author.
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- Alan Hughes
- 09-02-21
Thoroughly excellent.
I was surprised to find that I harboured ideas about language and thought that were not based on good scientific analysis and, which when assessed more closely, were probably patronising and divisive.
This short book covers a great deal in a manner that is not only accessible but also, often, humorous. You will be better infirmed after reading this and will have an increased curiosity in the varieties of human languages
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- Jake Paris
- 11-22-21
Not bad, not bad!
John weaves an exacting picture of the "language hoax" as he sees it. He speaks with pedantic detail and balance, coloured with a light humoured respectful tone regarding the studies that lead him to write the book.
There is room for debate regarding many points he makes and his counter analysis of popular belief regarding language but much of that is perhaps a result of his focus and resistance to being sidetracked by points that aren't germaine to the overall point he is trying to make. In this way I'd say it's imperfectly imperfect.
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- irtapil
- 03-27-20
his other stuff is better.
This isn't bad, but his other stuff is much better. The entire book is spent debunking a particular linguistic theory, it probably doesn't need to be an entire book. This is one of those cases where a good essay is kind of over-padded into a "not bad" book.