Full Description
What are the key design elements of human language? How does it work? What makes it different from how animals communicate and convey information? How did it evolve, biologically speaking? In what respects do animals fail to do what we humans do so effortlessly? Language is a uniquely human trait, but without a degree in linguistics, it is difficult to comprehend how it works. This fascinating book addresses these and related questions in a lively and engaging way, and demonstrates the 'nuts and bolts' of how language actually works. Readers are introduced to key discoveries in the study of language, such as Chomsky's ideas about 'language faculty', and parallels are drawn with well-known issues in science, such as 'flat earth', the nature-nurture debate, and the teaching of language to apes. Language - something so universal to all human experience - is a fascinating cognitive system, and this book explains how, and why.
Contents
Prologue; 1. The Fallacy of Flat Language; 2. Language Rules are Not Linear; 3. Beyond English; 4. The 'Unsolvable' Puzzle?; 5. The Riddle of 'dl'; 6. Sign Languages; 7. Chunking in Action; 8. Is Language Innate?; 9. Language in the Genes; 10. How Animals Communicate; 11. Can Apes Learn Language?; 12. Back to Humans: Language Teaching; Epilogue; Acknowledgements; Notes; Glossary.
