About this title: In this title, MIT Professor Steven Pinker explains the origins of language and its evolution, the instinctive way we use language, and the relationships between 'proper' languages and slang, pidgins, and other 'improper' versions.
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Description: Good. 1995-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Perennial (HarperCollins)
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780060976514ISBN:0060976519
Description: Very Good. 0060976519. 22nd printing. Two reading creases along the spine, minor edge and surface wear, bumped lower front corner, but overall a nice copy. Spine is flat and square, text is unmarked, and there are no previous owner identifiers.; Steven Pinker, well-known for his revolutionary theory of how children acquire language, 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, how it evolved ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Perennial (HarperCollins)
Date Published: 1995-02
ISBN-13:9780060976514ISBN:0060976519
Description: Very Good. Softcover book in very good condition, clean and tightly bound. First edition. Ships next business day from Oklahoma. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Perennial (HarperCollins)
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780060976514ISBN:0060976519
Description: Good. Slight tint around the text. Goodwillnyonline carries a wide range of quality new and used items at competitive prices. Goodwillnyonline is operated by Goodwill Industries of Greater New York & Northern New Jersey. A major provider of services for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. read more
Description: Good. Only lightly used. Book has minimal wear to cover and binding. A few pages may have small creases and minimal underlining. Book selection as BIG as Texas. read more
Description: Fair. 0060976519 Books in acceptable condition may show significant wear and may have lots of writing/underlining. Will be shipped promptly! read more
Description: Fair. 0060976519 Books in acceptable condition may show significant wear and may have lots of writing/underlining. Will be shipped promptly! read more
"I was really surprised by this book. Pinker surveys some of the major research programs in linguistics, including in cases of overlap with fields such as neuroscience, psychology, and sociology. The book also provides several arguments in attempt to explain why it is that linguists pursue certain kinds of research programs. For example, the influence of Noam Chomsky's argument for a Universal Grammar is analyzed, and with Pinker's elucidations, seems to be a well-justified research program. The thesis of Universal Grammar amounts to the claim that people have innate brain structures for grammar; that is, people are hard-wired to speak as birds are hard-wired to fly. He also details some of the affinities that linguistics is revealing among the languages and some of the commonalities that appear as though they hold for various communities. Pinker believes, then, that finding common reference among different languages also provides folk with some idea of what counts as human nature. I can't say enough good things about the book. It's well-written, clear, and sometimes Pinker is just darn funny. Read this'n."
"It's only appropriate that a book about language be written engagingly, and Steven Pinker is very fun to "listen" to. He lays out the evidence for a hard-wired ability for languages built into the structure of human brains (physically residing in the perisylvian region where Wernicke's and Broca's areas are), and livens things up with interesting examples from the scientific literature (kids are grammar geniuses) and fun quotes from sources from newspapers to Shakespeare. I appreciated his spirited defense of the idea of innate abilities and dismissal of complete relativism, too--the idea that humans can all have built-in abilities AND variation doesn't automatically give eugenics nuts or whatever-supremacists grounds to say that any particular group is inferior or superior, and not everything is negotiable."
"The Language Instinct is a book addressing the subject of language, how we learn it, how it develops, and how the basic concepts of grammar are innate to the human brain.
The book addresses many interesting topics, but the style in which it is delivered did not always appeal to me. At some points, I felt it was going into too much unnecessary details, and at others, I felt that the point the author was trying to make was not sufficiently addressed or proven.
I still learned some interesting facts about languages from this book."
"A subject which fascinates me. A fun, quick read. Alas, since I studied linguistics and speech pathology in college, little of this was new information. I found myself repeatedly wishing the book would delve more deeply into certain subjects. I'd be interested in books that would do this that don't have a dry, textbook feel.
(Erm, this book does not have a dry, textbook feel. Not at all. In other words, I'd like to read more books like this one that delve more deeply into specialized linguistic subjects.)"
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