Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language (P.S.)
November 26, 2012
- Author:
- Steven Pinker
- Publisher:
- Harper Perennial (3/8/2011)
How does language work? How do we learn to speak? Why do languages change? Why do they have so many quirks? What does language reveal about the mind?
Steven Pinker explores the mysteries of language in this original and hugely entertaining book. Pinker uses a deceptively simple phenomenon—regular and irregular verbs—to illuminate an astonishing array of topics: the history of languages, what we can learn from children’s grammatical mistakes, the genetic and neurobiological underpinnings of language, and some of the major themes in Western philosophy. The key idea—that language comprises a mental dictionary of memorized words and a mental grammar of creative rules—extends beyond language, offering insight into the nature of thinking. For fans of The Language Instinct and The Stuff of Thought, here is another cornucopia of ideas about language and mind.
Comments (2)
by Mr.X
“Indeed ‘words’ are so powerful beyond what the human mind can grasp”
Completly wrong.Nothing as quintessential human as words comes to (my) mind.Besides jumping to conclusions and believing anything you want, because it’s feel-good fluff to you.
“Imagine that everything (earth and everything in it and the universe) came into existence from nothing when God spoke His Word.”
Let’s dream^^
Anyway: So, it was the power of the words.Not gods.Or else, the words have no incomprehensible power (all by themselves).Or are we talking about a singe special word.Then, other words are not becoming strong magically by extension.
Which human language did god speak, when he created the world!?
I guess that was English^^
And if we talk about persuasion: This is about what’s in your head, the targets head, and how you can get the target^/s to reason the way you want.The word is just the physical representation of the semantics in peoples head (which btw, can differ widely).Words -in practice- often have no clear cut meaning,
by cristleo
Indeed ‘words’ are so powerful beyond what the human mind can grasp. Imagine that everything (earth and everything in it and the universe) came into existence from nothing when God spoke His Word. If you believe there is God as the Creatoer of all things, read the first chapter of the Bible in Genesis 1.