Great courses (DVD)

Course No. 2235

A professor of English delves into the past, present, and future of different languages

Title from container

30 lectures, 30 minutes each

Lecturer: Professor John McWhorter, Columbia University

DVD

In English; Closed-captioned

Disc 1.

Why are there so many languages? -- First family discovered: Indo-European -- Indo-European languages in Europe -- Indo-European languages in Asia -- Click languages -- Niger-Congo: largest family in Africa I --

Disc 2.

Niger-Congo: largest family in Africa II -- Languages of the fertile crescent and beyond I -- Languages of the fertile crescent and beyond II -- Nilo-Saharan: Africa's hardest languages? -- Is the Indo-European family alone in Europe? -- How to identify a language family --

Disc 3. What is a Caucasian language? --

Indian languages that aren't Indo-European -- Languages of the Silk Road and beyond -- Japanese and Korean: alike yet unrelated -- Languages we call Chinese -- Chinese's family circle: Sino-Tibetan --

Disc 4

Southeast Asian languages: The Sinosphere -- Languages of the South Seas I -- Languages of the South Seas II -- Siberia and beyond: language isolates -- Creole languages -- Why are there so many languages in New Guinea? --

Disc 5

Languages of Australia I -- Languages of Australia II -- Original American languages I Original American languages II Original American languages III Original American languages IV --

Disc 6

Languages caught between families -- How far back can we trace languages? -- What do genes say about language families? -- Language families and writing systems