3 Review(s)

One of the most visible intellectuals in the new field of cognitive science explains the mysteries of language and mind in an entirely new way, and explores the use of regular and irregular verbs with the help of jokes, cartoons, song lyrics, and more. Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award. Illustrations. How does language work, and how do we learn to speak? Why do languages change over time, and why do they have so many quirks and irregularities? In this original and totally entertaining book written in the same engaging style that illuminated his bestselling classics, "The Language Instinct" and "How the Mind Works," Seven Pinker explores the profound mysteries of language. By picking a deceptively simple phenomenon--regular and irregular verbs--Pinker connects an astonishing array of topics in the sciences and the humanities: the history of languages; the theories of Noam Chomosky and his critics; the attempts to create language using computer simulations of neural networks; what there is to learn from children's grammatical "mistakes"; the latest techniques in identifying genes and imaging the brain; and major ideas in the history of Western philosophy. He makes sense of all this with the help of a single, powerful idea: that language comprises a mental dictionary of memorized words and a mental grammar of creative rules. His theory extends beyond language and offers insight in the very nature of the human mind.