{"product_id":"a-myriad-of-tongues-by-caleb-everett-9780674976580","title":"A Myriad of Tongues","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA sweeping exploration of the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, colour, and smells.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe tend to assume that all languages categorise ideas and objects similarly, reflecting our common human experience. But this isn't the case. When we look closely, we find that many basic concepts are not universal, and that speakers of different languages literally see and think about the world differently.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCaleb Everett takes readers around the globe, explaining what linguistic diversity tells us about human culture, overturning conventional wisdom along the way. For instance, though it may seem that everybody refers to time in spatial terms—in English, for example, we speak of time \"passing us by\"—speakers of the Amazonian language Tupi Kawahib never do. In fact, Tupi Kawahib has no word for \"time\" at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd while it has long been understood that languages categorise colours based on those that speakers regularly encounter, evidence suggests that the colour words we have at our disposal affect how we discriminate colours themselves: a rose may not appear as rosy by any other name. What's more, the terms available to us even determine the range of smells we can identify. European languages tend to have just a few abstract odour words, like \"floral\" or \"stinky,\" whereas Indigenous languages often have well over a dozen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhy do some cultures talk anthropocentrically about things being to one's \"left\" or \"right,\" while others use geocentric words like \"east\" and \"west\"? What is the connection between what we eat and the sounds we make? \u003ci\u003eA Myriad of Tongues\u003c\/i\u003e answers these and other questions, yielding profound insights into the fundamentals of human communication and experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"John Wiley and Sons Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47362510225644,"sku":"9780674976580","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/8267683482428.jpg?v=1772885988","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/a-myriad-of-tongues-by-caleb-everett-9780674976580","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}