The Language Instinct: How The Mind Creates LanguageHarper Collins, 2010 M12 14 - 576 pages "A brilliant, witty, and altogether satisfying book." — New York Times Book Review The classic work on the development of human language by the world’s leading expert on language and the mind In The Language Instinct, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published. |
From inside the book
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... . Mental terms like " know " and " think " were branded as unscientific ; " mind " and " innate " were dirty words . Behavior was explained by a few laws of stimulus - response learning that could be 8 The Language Instinct.
... behavior patterns , and cognitive structures in higher organisms has often been approached in a very different way . It is generally assumed that in these domains , social environment is the dominant factor . The structures of mind that ...
... behavior . " The conclu- sions were based on the students ' shy or sullen reactions to batteries of standardized tests . If the psychologists had listened to spontaneous conversations , they would have rediscovered the commonplace fact ...
... - dren were randomly distributed among the families , the sexes , and the birth orders . Of course , the mere fact that some behavioral pattern runs in families does not show that it is genetic . Recipes Chatterboxes 37.
Contents
1 | |
12 | |
44 | |
How Language Works | 74 |
Words Words Words | 119 |
The Sounds of Silence | 153 |
Talking Heads | 190 |
The Tower of Babel | 231 |
Language Organs and Grammar Genes | 302 |
The Big Bang | 340 |
The Language Mavens | 382 |
Mind Design | 419 |
Notes | 449 |
References | 469 |
Glossary | 503 |
Index | 517 |