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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... - Describes Heaven 265 10. Language Organs and Grammar Genes 302 11. The Big Bang 340 12. The Language Mavens 382 13. Mind Design 419 Notes References Glossary Index 449 469 503 517 Preface I have never met a person who is not.
... organ , a neural system , and a computational module . But I prefer the admittedly quaint term " instinct . " It conveys the idea that people know how to talk in more or less the sense that spiders know how to spin webs . Web - spinning ...
... organ with " that perfection of structure and co - adaptation which justly excites our admiration , " in Darwin's words - gives us a new respect for your ordi- nary Joe and the much - maligned English language ( or any language ) . The ...
... organs results from accidental experi- ence . Rather , it is taken for granted that the physical structure of the organism is genetically determined , though of course variation along such dimensions as size , rate of development , and ...
... organ ? At first glance , the proposal may seem absurd , if only because of the great variety of human languages . But a closer consideration dispels these doubts . Even knowing very little of substance about linguistic universals , we ...
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 |