Ep157 "Where Did the Letter "A" Come From?" with Danny Bate

About this episode

This episode explores the origins of the English alphabet and its impact on human cognition with linguist Danny Bate.

How can we use 26 symbols to capture everything in the cosmos of human experience? Where do our written symbols in English come from? What ancient ghosts are still hiding inside the letters you read every day? Does learning to read reconfigure the circuitry of your brain? Does dyslexia reveal how unnatural reading really is? And could AI freeze the evolution of language for the first time in history? Today we dive into the alphabet with linguist Danny Bate, who’s just written a book on the surprising history of every letter.

People in this episode

Host: David Eagleman

Guest: Danny Bate

Topics covered

• alphabet
• linguistics
• history of letters
• reading
• dyslexia
• AI and language

Keywords

• alphabet
• linguistics
• history
• reading
• dyslexia
• AI
• language evolution

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: book

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