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
Results 1-5 of 9
... biological fellow travelers - will find a formid- able Darwinian challenge to their cherished dogmas . Word - pedants like me ( or those who say ' gender ' when they mean ' sex ' ) will retreat chas- tened . Even if you disagree with it ...
... biology , but also an ability to understand the ordinary person's linguistic hang - ups and to shake them loose with gentle ridicule . . . . Whatever its eventual impact on linguistics and psy- chology , The Language Instinct will ...
... biology .... The Language Instinct is provocative . But there are no cheap points scored nor is there any intemperate denunciation of opposing views . . . . The case is intelligently structured , forcefully argued , and couched in ...
... biologically unprecedented event irre- vocably separating him from other animals . They know that language pervades thought ... biological makeup of our brains . Language is a complex , specialized skill , which develops in the child ...
... biology , for a magnificent ability unique to a particular living species is far from unique in the animal kingdom . Some ... biological adaptation to communicate information , it is no longer as tempting to see language as an insidious ...
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 |