Geography is the key that unlocks the door to the world’s wonders. There are, of course, many ways of viewing the world and its diverse physical and human features. In this series - MODERN WORLD CULTURES - the emphasis is on people and their cultures. As you step through the geographic door into the ten world cultures covered in this series, you will come to better know, understand, and appreciate the world’s mosaic of peoples and how they live. You will see how different peoples adapt to, use, and change their natural environments. And you will be amazed at the vast differences in thinking, doing, and living practiced around the world.

Geography is the key that unlocks the door to the world’s wonders. There are, of course, many ways of viewing the world and its diverse physical and human features. In this series - MODERN WORLD CULTURES - the emphasis is on people and their cultures. As you step through the geographic door into the ten world cultures covered in this series, you will come to better know, understand, and appreciate the world’s mosaic of peoples and how they live. You will see how different peoples adapt to, use, and change their natural environments. And you will be amazed at the vast differences in thinking, doing, and living practiced around the world. The MODERN WORLD CULTURES series was developed in response to many requests from librarians and teachers throughout the United States and Canada.

This book reconstructs what the earliest grammars might have been and shows how they could have led to the languages of modern humankind.
Like other biological phenomena, language cannot be fully understood without reference to its evolution, whether proven or hypothesized," wrote Talmy Givon in 2002. As the languages spoken 8,000 years ago were typologically much the same as they are today and as no direct evidence exists for languages before then, evolutionary linguists are at a disadvantage compared to their counterparts in biology. Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva seek to overcome this obstacle by combining grammaticalization theory, one of the main methods of historical linguistics, with work in animal communication and human evolution. The questions they address include: do the modern languages derive from one ancestral language or from more than one? What was the structure of language like when it first evolved? And how did the properties associated with modern human languages arise, in particular syntax and the recursive use of language structures? The authors proceed on the assumption that if language evolution is the result of language change then the reconstruction of the former can be explored by deploying the processes involved in the latter. Their measured arguments and crystal-clear exposition will appeal to all those interested in the evolution of language, from advanced undergraduates to linguists, cognitive scientists, human biologists, and archaeologists.

New Frontiers: Modern Perspectives on Our Solar System
(24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)
Course No. 1823

Taught by Frank Summers
Space Telescope Science Institute
Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley

New Frontiers: Modern Perspectives on Our Solar System is a visually stunning and richly detailed investigation of what we know about the solar system today. Illustrated with insightful diagrams, amazing computer animations, and scores of spectacular images from telescopes and spacecraft, these 24 lectures show you a new and exciting way to view our celestial neighborhood—all under the guidance of astrophysicist and top astronomy educator, Dr. Frank Summers from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).

Geography is the key that unlocks the door to the world’s wonders. There are, of course, many ways of viewing the world and its diverse physical and human features. In this series - MODERN WORLD CULTURES - the emphasis is on people and their cultures. As you step through the geographic door into the ten world cultures covered in this series, you will come to better know, understand, and appreciate the world’s mosaic of peoples and how they live. You will see how different peoples adapt to, use, and change their natural environments. And you will be amazed at the vast differences in thinking, doing, and living practiced around the world. The MODERN WORLD CULTURES series was developed in response to many requests from librarians and teachers throughout the United States and Canada.