Book that explores the nature and origin of language to be published in Turkish
The Crucible of Language, a popular science book by Vyvyan Evans unravels how language and mind co-conspire to produce meaning. Ranging from an analysis of how jokes work, to uncovering the time depth and evolution of language, the book explores the way we use language to communicate with one another. The Crucible of Language was named one of Cambridge University's best books of 2016.
Now there will be a Turkish language edition, to be published by Alfa Yayin Grubu, with an initial print run of 2,000 copies. Check out the video explainer about the book.
Check out the book's website here, to download and read the preface and chapter 1.
From the barbed, childish taunt on the school playground, to the eloquent sophistry of a lawyer prising open a legal loophole in a court of law, meaning arises each time we use language to communicate with one another. How we use language - to convey ideas, make requests, ask a favour, express anger, love, dismay - is of the utmost importance; indeed, linguistic meaning can be a matter of life and death. And yet, until relatively recently, the communicative value of language was relegated to all but the margins of scientific enquiry.
In The Crucible of Language Vyvyan Evans explains what we know, and what we do, when we communicate using language; he shows how linguistic meaning arises, where it comes from, and the way language enables us to convey the meanings that can move us to tears, bore us to death, or make us dizzy with delight. Meaning is, he argues, one of the final frontiers in the mapping of the human mind.
Check out the book video trailer: