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The Analogy Engine
Dec. 14th, 2008 03:22 pmAug 2008
The Stuff of Thought - Steven Pinker - Penguin, 2007
* * * *
I have long been suspicious of Noam Chomsky's concept of a universal grammar, the principle that all humans are born with a grammatical "toolkit" which they use to acquire and develop language. Whilst it explains some curious similarities in sentence construction between culturally distinct languages and provides a possible mechanism for the astonishing speed at which infants learn to speak, it has always seemed to me to be a bit too convenient to be true, an unverifiable just-so story. Reading this book, however, has caused me to revise my opinion. For if the universal grammar hypothesis is true, then the study of language - determining the nature of the tools in the toolkit - should give us important clues about how our minds work and, importantly, what the limitations on human cognitive abilities might be that could affect our continued survival on this planet. With the many examples collected in this book, Steven Pinker makes a persuasive case that linguistics can indeed offer these sorts of insights.
( Read more... )
The Stuff of Thought - Steven Pinker - Penguin, 2007
* * * *
I have long been suspicious of Noam Chomsky's concept of a universal grammar, the principle that all humans are born with a grammatical "toolkit" which they use to acquire and develop language. Whilst it explains some curious similarities in sentence construction between culturally distinct languages and provides a possible mechanism for the astonishing speed at which infants learn to speak, it has always seemed to me to be a bit too convenient to be true, an unverifiable just-so story. Reading this book, however, has caused me to revise my opinion. For if the universal grammar hypothesis is true, then the study of language - determining the nature of the tools in the toolkit - should give us important clues about how our minds work and, importantly, what the limitations on human cognitive abilities might be that could affect our continued survival on this planet. With the many examples collected in this book, Steven Pinker makes a persuasive case that linguistics can indeed offer these sorts of insights.
( Read more... )