"The Story of Human Language," One

       Linguist John McWhorter teaches a great course, which I listen to on CD 30 minutes at a time, checking its abbreviation in book form chapter by chapter to get a quick summary of what I've been listening to, see visually some words I've only heard orally, but not missing much substance as an audio student only.

       Last session, John spoke of not thinking of language the way most of his students do.  He's thinking of it taking place somewhere in a distant forest where natives have no written "tongue," only what drops from their mouths; they are illiterate.

       It's very hard for literate folks to think of "dog" without seeing those letters "d"-"o"-"g."  When the forest inhabitants use the word for dog in their tongue, it's the critter itself that's being seen.