Steven Pinker
.
She knows about everything, my piano teacher. Music, painting, architecture, literature...and even languages. She advised me to read some Steven Pinker, and I thought it would be a good introduction to linguistics. Now I can say : if you're wondering about human language, you should try Steven Pinker.
"The Language Instinct - How the Mind Creates Language" is a marvel of a book. Steven Pinker, through his witty yet clear writing style, grabs us by both brain and heart and leads us in the uncertain and luminous path of questioning. How do we learn to speak ? Does language shape our thoughts ? How does language works ?
Here's a short quote :
Steven Pinker tries to debunk some common opinions about the link between thought and language, or how children learn to speak, or language defined as a "cultural artifact". He can be a bit hard, especially dealing about thought and language : I think he is mightily annoyed when people say that thoughts and words are the same. So he destroys this notion, and I think he's right. But it's not because thoughts and language are different that they have no link whatsoever.
Still, this book is welcomed food for thought.
I have "Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language" waiting calmy among the growing pile of books-to-be-read : I've browsed quickly throught its pages, and this one is a good starting point to enter the world of linguistics.
Steven Pinker also wrote about children, like in "Language Learnability and Language Development". Behind this dour title, I bet there's a mine of wonders lying dormant. And it's added to the Books-to-be-bought list.
I definitly advise you to try his books - if you're interested in language and mind, that is.
She knows about everything, my piano teacher. Music, painting, architecture, literature...and even languages. She advised me to read some Steven Pinker, and I thought it would be a good introduction to linguistics. Now I can say : if you're wondering about human language, you should try Steven Pinker.
"The Language Instinct - How the Mind Creates Language" is a marvel of a book. Steven Pinker, through his witty yet clear writing style, grabs us by both brain and heart and leads us in the uncertain and luminous path of questioning. How do we learn to speak ? Does language shape our thoughts ? How does language works ?
Here's a short quote :
This book is about human language. Unlike most books with
"language" in the title, it will not chide you about proper usage, trace the
origins of idioms and slang, or divert you with palindromes, anagrams, eponyms,
or those precious names for groups of animals like "exaltation of larks". For I
will be writing not about the English language or any other language, but about
something much more basic : the instinct to learn, speak, and understand
language.
Steven Pinker tries to debunk some common opinions about the link between thought and language, or how children learn to speak, or language defined as a "cultural artifact". He can be a bit hard, especially dealing about thought and language : I think he is mightily annoyed when people say that thoughts and words are the same. So he destroys this notion, and I think he's right. But it's not because thoughts and language are different that they have no link whatsoever.
Still, this book is welcomed food for thought.
I have "Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language" waiting calmy among the growing pile of books-to-be-read : I've browsed quickly throught its pages, and this one is a good starting point to enter the world of linguistics.
Steven Pinker also wrote about children, like in "Language Learnability and Language Development". Behind this dour title, I bet there's a mine of wonders lying dormant. And it's added to the Books-to-be-bought list.
I definitly advise you to try his books - if you're interested in language and mind, that is.
posted by transparency @ 12:11 e.h.
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