Language is?perhaps humanity's?most astonishing?capacity—and one that remains poorly understood. As cognitive scientists Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater argue, language isn't about hardwired grammars but about near-total freedom, with the only requirement being a desire to understand and be understood. Suggesting that the only real constraint on communication is our imagination, this book explores the origins of languages and how learning is possible, while settling such long-running debates as whether having two words for "blue" changes what we see.?