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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... talks down to the reader .... The fundamental unity of humanity is the theme of this exciting book . Arresting ... amusing and instructive ... a useful , compel- ling book . " -New York Times Book Review " Absorbing . He makes a ...
... Talking Heads xiii 1 12 44 74 119 153 190 8. The Tower of Babel 231 9. Baby Born Talking - 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 ...
... talk with , people talk to themselves , to their dogs , even to their plants . In our social rela- tions , the race is not to the swift but to the verbal — the spellbinding orator , the silver - tongued seducer , the persuasive child ...
... talk from role models and caregivers . They know that grammatical sophistication used to be nurtured in the schools , but sagging educa- tional standards and the debasements of popular culture have led to a frightening decline in the ...
... talk in more or less the sense that spiders know how to spin webs . Web - spinning was not invented by some unsung spider genius and does not depend on having had the right education or on having an aptitude for architecture or the ...
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 |