The language instinct

Critics

• Wired for Sound

  There was language long before there was writing, a fact that we literate investigators tend to underestimate. Today we are building the information superhighway, and for several millennia the written word has been a primary medium of cultural transm ... (read full critics)

  lrb published on Fri, 3 Sep 2010

• The Language Instinct: The New Science of Language and Mind

  As the title suggests, Pinker's The Language Instinct supports the theory that language is innate and that humans have a common "universal grammar". This is a major theme of his book. Another is the correction of common misconceptions about language ... (read full critics)

  dannyreviews published on Tue, 24 Aug 2010

5 Reviews

• 2 people find this helpful

  

  The pleasure of studying

  To begin with, I must confess I have had a few troubles finishing this book, but simply because I've fallen so in love with it that it really cost me a lot to end it.

  The Language Instinct has definitely made it to the top three list of my all time favorite books. Written in an informative yet ... (continue)

  To begin with, I must confess I have had a few troubles finishing this book, but simply because I've fallen so in love with it that it really cost me a lot to end it.

  The Language Instinct has definitely made it to the top three list of my all time favorite books. Written in an informative yet accessible way, every chapter both a new discovery, a challenge and a new adventure, The Language Instinct is the equivalent of an erudite yet enjoyable travel companion who entertains rather than lectures the reader with its knowledge.

  And just like the end of a pleasant journey, it is deeply sad to finally reach the last page. At the same time, just like every formative experience in life, when you finally reach the end cover, you walk away from The Language Instinct enriched in mind and spirit.

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  Celtic Manu said on May 28, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 2 people find this helpful

  

  You may disagree with some of its claims, but this book is still a masterpiece.

  I cannot pretend to have understood everything in this book, but the sheer volume of information, anecdotes and insights make this book a masterpiece. I have doubts over some of Pinker's claims, but I know no better. Just learning about the controversies is rewarding enough. Finishing this book i ... (continue)

  I cannot pretend to have understood everything in this book, but the sheer volume of information, anecdotes and insights make this book a masterpiece. I have doubts over some of Pinker's claims, but I know no better. Just learning about the controversies is rewarding enough. Finishing this book is comparable to ending an epic journey - tired yes, but enlightened.

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  Holmes said on Sep 25, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  A very interesting and eye opening book that makes dull knowledge alive and fascinating...I think. And the first HUGE non-textbook that I finished within such a short time! Worth celebrating!!!!

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  Discovering the World said on Jun 1, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 這是我一生人第一次看關於Linguistics的書，而且，還是一本４００多頁的磚頭書。

  Noem Chomsky: One of the most important linguists ever lived, who virtually modernized linguistics.

  English Grammar:
  S-->NP VP
  A sentence can consist of a noun phrase and a verb phrase

  NP-->(det) N (PP)
  A noun phrase ... (continue)

  這是我一生人第一次看關於Linguistics的書，而且，還是一本４００多頁的磚頭書。

  Noem Chomsky: One of the most important linguists ever lived, who virtually modernized linguistics.

  English Grammar:
  S-->NP VP
  A sentence can consist of a noun phrase and a verb phrase

  NP-->(det) N (PP)
  A noun phrase can consist of an optional determiner, a noun, and an optional prepositional phrase

  VP--> V NP (PP)
  A verb phrase can consist of a verb, a noun phrase, and an optional prepositional phrase

  PP--> P NP
  A prepositional phrase can consist of a preposition and a noun phrse.

  Super Rule:
  There is a universal and innate phrase structure for all languages called "Super Rules":

  XP--> (SPEC) X-bar YP*
  A phrase consists of an optional subject, followed by an X-bar, followd by any number of modifiers

  X-bar-->{X, ZP*}
  An x-bar consists of a head X and any number of role-players, in either order

  X, Y, Z can be noun, verb, adjective or preposition....

  Chomsky suggests that the Super Rules are universal and innate, and that when children learn a particular language, they do not have to learn a long list of rule, because they were born knowing the super-rules. All they have to learn is whether their particular language has the parameter value head-first, as in Enlgish or head-last, as in Japanese.

  e.g., English says "Eat your spinach", while Japanese says "Your spinach Eat". The order of verb is different.

  Deep Strucutre and Surface Structure:
  - Every scentence has two phrase structures. The phrase structure that is defined by the super-rules, is the deep structure.
  - Deep structure is the interface between the mental dictionary and phrase strucutre.
  - But, we can move the scentence structure into the final resulting scentence: The Surface Structure.
  - Separating language into deep and surface structure is to allow us to move around the rigid phrase structure so that we can move around the role-players to convey meanings more preceisely and accurately.

  Praser:
  The mental program that analyzes sentence strucutre during language comprehension is called the praser.

  Short-term memory is the primary bottleneck in human information processing. We can only hold seven, plus or minus two times at once in the mind, and the itmes are immediately subject to fading or being overweitten.

  Language is ambiguios and also with a branch of different possible paths lead to different meaning when we go through a scentence.

  Computer praser computing dozens of doomed tree fragments in the background, and the unlikely ones are somehow filtered out before they reach consciousness -- Breadth-first search.

  Human praser somehow gambles at each step about the alternative most likely to be true and then plows ahead with single interpretation as far as possible.

  Garden Path Sentences:

  e.g., Fat people eat accumulates.
  meaning behind: carbohydrates that people eat are quickly broken down, but fat people eat accumulates.

  The first words (Fat people) lead the lilstener "up the garden path" to an incorrect analysis.

  Garden path sentences are one of the hallmarks of bad wrinting. sentences are not laid out with clear markers at every frok, allowing the reader to stride confidently through to the end.

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  Samsara said on Oct 4, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• Popular science done right. I later took a course in syntax (2006), but more because of the blog "Language Log" than because of this book.

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  Leebeck said on Feb 29, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Others 494 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0141037652
• ISBN-13: 9780141037653
• Pub date: Oct 01, 2008
• Also available as: Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette and eBook
• In other languages: other languages Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Libri Italiani

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• NY Times Notable Book Club (482)
• atheist science (8)

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