Guy Deutscher Quotes

• Language is mankind’s greatest invention – except, of course, that it was never invented.

  Guy Deutscher

  Language, Invention, Mankind

  Guy Deutscher (2006). “The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention”, p.1, Macmillan

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• As strange as it may sound, our experience of a Chagall painting actually depends to some extent on whether our language has a word for blue.

  Guy Deutscher

  Blue, Sound, May

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• And there are also languages that divide nouns into much more specific genders. The African language Supyire from Mali has five genders: humans, big things, small things, collectives, and liquids. Bantu languages such as Swahili have up to ten genders, and the Australian language Ngan’gityemerri is said to have fifteen different genders, which include, among others, masculine human, feminine human, canines, non-canine animals, vegetables, drinks, and two different genders for spears (depending on size and material).

  Guy Deutscher

  Animal, Vegetables, Two

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