How Human Language Works
Discover the invisible mechanics behind every word you speak, hear, and think. From the subconscious rules of grammar to the social power of accents and slang, explore how language shapes our daily interactions.
Like Duolingo, but for How Human Language Works. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
21 levels across 3 sections, about 42 minutes end to end, roughly 8 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Hidden Mechanics of Daily Speech; Language in the Wild: Rules, Power, and Interaction; and How Languages Evolve and Shape the Mind. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in How Human Language Works
- Spelling uses arbitrary visual symbols that often fail to match the real physical actions of speech
- Speech sounds are produced by specific physical movements and positions of the mouth, tongue, and throat
- A single written letter combination can represent completely different mouth actions in different words
- Voiced sounds like 'z' vibrate the vocal cords, producing a buzz you can physically feel on your throat
- Voiceless sounds like 's' pass air freely without vibrating the vocal cords
- The mouth shape for 's' and 'z' is identical; the only difference is turning the vocal cords on or off
- The vocal cords produce a raw buzz, and the shifting shape of the mouth cavity filters it into distinct vowel sounds
- Moving the tongue high and forward produces bright vowels like 'ee'
- Dropping the jaw creates a wide open chamber that produces vowels like 'ah'
- Physical speech is continuous acoustic sound with virtually no silent gaps between words
- Our brains mentally construct boundaries and 'hear' spaces between words only in languages we already know
- Without knowing the vocabulary, the brain cannot divide the unbroken sound stream into discrete words
- An accent is a set of ingrained motor habits and muscle memory developed during childhood speech
- When encountering new sounds, adult speakers instinctively substitute the closest familiar mouth postures from their native language
- Accents stem from learned physical habits, not differences in physical vocal anatomy
- Across human languages, different speech sounds represent the exact same object (like 'dog', 'perro', or 'chien') because the pairing is based on shared social convention, not inherent physics
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives How Human Language Works the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When you say any word out loud, what actually creates those speech sounds?
Get it right to open this lesson and 20 more in the app.
How to learn How Human Language Works, step by step
Go in order. 21 short levels across 3 sections, about 42 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
The Hidden Mechanics of Daily Speech
- Tuning into Your Own Speech Sounds
- How Words Assemble Meaning
- The Architecture of a Sentence
- 2
Language in the Wild: Rules, Power, and Interaction
- Dismantling the Myth of 'Proper' Grammar
- Reading Between the Lines in Conversation
- 3
How Languages Evolve and Shape the Mind
- How Words Mutate and Languages Drift
- Examining How Language Colors Thought
3 sections · 7 units · 21 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about How Human Language Works
How do I learn How Human Language Works?
Go in order: start with The Hidden Mechanics of Daily Speech, then Language in the Wild: Rules, Power, and Interaction, then How Languages Evolve and Shape the Mind. On Tomo that's 21 short levels, about 42 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.
Is there a Duolingo-style app for How Human Language Works?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. How Human Language Works is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is the How Human Language Works course free?
Yes. How Human Language Works is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.
How long does it take to learn How Human Language Works?
21 levels across 3 sections, about 42 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.
Do I need any background to start How Human Language Works?
No. It's pitched at a beginner level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
How Human Language Works is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start How Human Language Works today.
Download Tomo, search How Human Language Works, and play your first lesson in under a minute.