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The Language Instinct: How The Mind Creates Language (P.S.)
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From Booklist
Pinker, a respected cognitive scientist at MIT, has given the nonstudent a bridge into the interesting yet still controversial world of linguistics and cognitive science. Here, under a rather heavy Chomsky influence, Pinker discusses, among other things, how language evolved, how children acquire and develop language skills, and why the English language and its spelling aren't as nonlogical as such critics as George Bernard Shaw have claimed. Written for popular consumption, Pinker's discussions of such complicated arguments and theories as the various, disputable universal grammars and languages of thought, Quine's gavagai, and the world of morphemes and phonemes are all painless to read. Examples are clear and easy to understand; Pinker's humor and insight make this the perfect introduction to the world of cognitive science and language. Highly recommended for all academic libraries and for public libraries with solid psychology and philosophy collections. Caroline Andrew
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From Kirkus Reviews
Another in a series of books (Joel Davis's Mother Tongue, p. 1303; Ray Jackendorf's Patterns in the Mind, p. 1439) popularizing Chomsky's once controversial theories explaining the biological basis of language. Variously mellow, intense, and bemused--but never boring--Pinker (Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience/MIT), emphasizes Darwinian theory and defines language as a ``biological adaptation to communicate.'' While Pinker bases his argument on the innate nature of language, he situates language in that transitional area between instinct and learned behavior, between nature and culture. Starting with what he calls a ``grammar gene,'' Pinker describes the way primitives, children (his special interest), even the deaf evolve natural languages responding to the universal need to communicate. He refutes the ``comic history'' of linguistic determinism, the belief that language shapes thinking, undermining it with examples from music, mathematics, and kinship theory. Following his lively, user-friendly demonstration of even the most forbidding aspects of linguistics, and his discussion of vocabulary, how words are acquired, built, and used, he rises to a celebration of the ``harmony between the mind...and the texture of reality.'' This theme, the power and mystery of the human mind, permeates Pinker's engaging study, balanced with the more sober scientific belief that the mind is an ``adapted computational model'': ``To a scientist,'' he writes, ``the fundamental fact of human language is its sheer improbability.'' Among the many interesting though not sequential ideas: If language is innate, biologically based, then it can't be taught either to animals or computers. Pinker shows why adults have difficulty learning a foreign language, and he mediates coolly between rules and usage, between systematic and non-prescriptive grammar. Designed for a popular audience, this is in fact a hefty read full of wonder and wisdom. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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10 von 10 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
I believe that some of the later reviews of "The Language Instinct" accurately reveal what generally is wrong with the positions taken here by the academic linguists who dismiss the book. Nobody points to the real problem behind these dismissals: not one of these linguists is willing to address the questions that lie at the heart of Chomsky's work in generative grammar and that instigated his work. These questions are (see p. 22, paperback ed.), and they are brilliant questions, never before asked: 1. How can we account for the fact that every human utterance is "is a brand-new combination of words?" 2. How do children, too young for formal instruction, master the essential grammatical structure of their native language? Chomsky's answer came to be generative grammar. The linguists, trapped by the Social Science Model they embrace, do not address these questions because they cannot and have no satisfactory explanation to put in its place. Until they can provide a different theory as powerful as Chomsky's they have no argument, only quibbles.
Yet having said that, I wonder whether Pinker is as successful as the enthusiastic reviews claim. Two kinds of comments, recurrent themes, as it were, suggest this. One criticism is that he presents speculation as fact. I can find not one example in 430 pages. One of the pleasures of reading this book (and it's a rare pleasure these days!) is Pinker's extremely careful use of language and his great care in weighing evidence, pointing out what is fragmentary and inconclusive but suggestive, and in telling us where he is speculating outright (as in chaps. 11 & 13). Why some reviewers misread so badly is related, I believe, to the second kind of objection.
Many complain that Pinker is "dismissive" of other points of view, that he is "unduly slanted," that he has an "agenda." These criticisms are meaningless in this context. Pinker is a scientist, and a scientist who temporizes and makes nothing but conditional statements is not writing science; he is publishing before he is sure of his data and has thought-through his conclusions; he would in fact not be published. Read Darwin's "Origin of Species." It's "slanted"? You bet, and it certainly has an "agenda"! But at the same time these complaints are deeply revealing about our present-day culture. One of Pinker's main points is that an all-pervasive extreme relativism has come to permeate our discourse at all levels. Here it manifests itself , in science, where it is entirely inappropriate: as the usual PC dogmas "Don't confront! Never dismiss! Somebody might be offended!" That way madness lies. That some reviewers failed to see that these kinds of responses were precisely what he is arguing against suggests that he may not have succeeded fully.
Finally, and briefly, one reviewer DOES attempt to confront Pinker on his own grounds, by suggesting that the adequacy of any theory can be tested by posing counterexamples. The problem is that his own examples counter nothing Pinker says. The first is impossible: "Yes, he's." Simply try to SAY that and the impossibility of that contraction is clear. One expects a completer (here; there; guilty, etc.). The second strains credulity: Anyone who is impolite enough to answer my phone call with a rude "Who's it?" produces instant confusion and a slamming hang-up. Unless . . . suppose the answerer is not in his office at the college but at home with an unlisted number. Then the likelihood is that the caller is friend, family, an intimate who recognizes this as a deliberately humorous, idiosyncratic, "in" way of saying "Hello," much as we use the words "whosis" and "whatsis" in informal situations. But these are intelligible ONLY because the standard, uncontracted forms are known in the first place.
Pinker's book is a powerful and important piece of work. Among other things, it argues subtly for the return of reasoned judgment to our everything-goes public discourse.
5 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
I find it hard to believe sometimes that Stephen Pinker teaches at MIT. You mean some scientists do actually have a sense of humor? Anyone who reads this book had better have a great sense of humor, a love of the absurd, and a desire to really understand language. I'm in Science Education, not linguistics, but because I am deaf and studying how deaf people learn, it ends up with a lot of linguistic study in it. Usually the books from this lot of scientists are mind-boggling hard to get through, but not Mr. Pinker. If he teaches like he writes, then he must be a heck of a teacher! Mr. Pinker is also one of the few linguists who aren't devoted to ASL studies who includes information about American Sign Language that makes it clear that it is a real language in its own right. That alone would endear Dr. Pinker to the Deaf culture. This books takes all those difficult concepts concerning the innateness of language, and conveys them to the layman in an easy-to-understand way. He is never patronizing and always funny. I enjoy reading the book, which I often have to do since I use it in my papers a lot. To say Dr. Pinker's book is brilliant is a statement of fact. It's too bad some scientists in other fields couldn't take a cue from him and get a sense of humor! Karen L. Sadler Science Education, University of Pittsburgh, klsst23@pitt.edu
4 von 4 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
If you like lucid, entertaining, highly informative books on science, written by the scientists themselves, you must read this book. This is one of those books that makes me want to raid its bibliography, to learn so much more in greater detail. Not that Pinker doesn't provide detail. It's just that the subjects are so fascinating, and he surveys so many of them. I all of a sudden want to know more about aphasics, sign languages, hominid evolution, Chomskyan grammars, child development, "creole" languages, patients with Williams syndrome, evolutionary psychology, bonobos, and, believe it or not, the evolution of elephants. I am also eager to find rebuttals to his primary thesis--that language is an instinct of humans--precisely because he makes such a convincing case. A book that both William F. Buckley and Noam Chomsky can praise has got to be exceptional.
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Lesenswert Untertreibung des Jahres
Das Buch ist nicht nur in einer "ruhigen Minute" lesenswert. Pinkers evolutionsbiologischer Ansatz zum Spracherwerb gibt die Linien vor, an denen entlang die... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 22. Februar 2001 veröffentlicht
Durchaus lesenswert
Pinker geht die themen semantik und linguistik hier aus einer sehr erfrischenden sicht an. dadurch verliert er natürlich teilweise an wissenschaftlicher klarheit. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 28. November 2000 veröffentlicht
An accessible approach to a difficult topic
I've had a long running interest in language acquisition and the study of linguistics, and have read many of the original works by authors like Chomsky. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 29. Mai 2000 von M. H. Bayliss
Fascinating and entertaining book--convinces you he's right!
I have a strong interest in how language develops, and am fascinated with the debate about whether language is instinctive or learned. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 26. April 2000 von Suzanne Amara
When a "scientist" refuses to see what he sees
The Language Instinct is really well-written and enjoyable ... particularly if you are interested in linguistics and how people communicate and speak. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 14. März 2000 von Dial911book
engaging but polemical
This book is a good presentation of basic linguistics, theoretical and empirical, for the general reader. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 5. Februar 2000 von Slacker79
A Wonderful Book
I have a ten year old daughter who is struggling to speak and so, when I saw an interview with Dr. Pinker on PBS, I was inspired to pick-up his book. It's been life-changing. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 4. Februar 2000 von "gstdsuz"
This is wit?
Perhaps it's a brilliant overview pushing speculation as fact, but I stopped reading after the introduction and skimming the first chapter. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 31. Januar 2000 von Eric H. Roth
beautifully written
I'm sorry I can't offer a better opinion on the accuracy of this book, which did seem to have something of an agenda when I read it. I'm not a linguist. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 23. Januar 2000 von Yoon Ha Lee
Pinker Should Write For Time Magazine
I just finished the book and think it shares a few things in common with weekly newsmagazines: it is fun to read, Pinker spices his subject with numerous references to pop culture;... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 8. Dezember 1999 veröffentlicht
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