The Atoms Of Language: The Mind's Hidden Rules Of GrammarBasic Books, 5 ago 2008 - 288 páginas Whether all human languages are fundamentally the same or different has been a subject of debate for ages. This problem has deep philosophical implications: If languages are all the same, it implies a fundamental commonality-and thus the mutual intelligibility-of human thought. We are now on the verge of answering this question. Using a twenty-year-old theory proposed by the world's greatest living linguist, Noam Chomsky, researchers have found that the similarities among languages are more profound than the differences. Languages whose grammars seem completely incompatible may in fact be structurally almost identical, except for a difference in one simple rule. The discovery of these rules and how they may vary promises to yield a linguistic equivalent of the Periodic Table of the Elements: a single framework by which we can understand the fundamental structure of all human language. This is a landmark breakthrough, both within linguistics, which will thereby become a full-fledged science for the first time, and in our understanding of the human mind. |
Índice
The Discovery of Atoms | 19 |
Samples Versus Recipes | 51 |
Baking a Polysynthetic Language | 85 |
Alloys and Compounds | 123 |
Toward a Periodic Table of Languages | 157 |
Why Parameters? | 199 |
Notes | 235 |
Glossary | 245 |
Map | 251 |
263 | |
Otras ediciones - Ver todo
The Atoms Of Language: The Mind's Hidden Rules Of Grammar Mark C Baker No hay ninguna vista previa disponible - 2008 |
The Atoms Of Language: The Mind's Hidden Rules Of Grammar Mark C. Baker No hay ninguna vista previa disponible - 2002 |
Términos y frases comunes
adjectives adverbs atoms auxiliary phrase Baker basic Cambridge Chapter chemistry Chichewa Chomsky Chris Code Talkers combine complex compounds cultural direct object dislocated elements embedded clause English and Japanese English sentence English speakers English-style ergative languages example expressed French and English grammar guages head directionality parameter head-final languages head-last Hixkaryana human language I-language Italian ject John kind language types learning linguistic diversity logical look main verb marker meaning Mendeleyev Mohawk Navajo noun incorporation noun phrase null subject parameter object agreement optional parame parameter hierarchy parametric theory periodic table Pinker polysynthesis parameter polysynthetic languages possible predict prefix prepositional phrase Press properties Quechua rameters ranuhwe's recipe reflexive pronoun serial verb constructions similar Spanish structure subject noun phrase subject-verb-object suffix tences tense auxiliary things tion topic Tzotzil University verb attraction parameter verb phrase verb-object constraint Warao Welsh whereas word order
Pasajes populares
Página 4 - Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
Referencias a este libro
Blackwell Handbook of Language Development Erika Hoff,Marilyn Shatz No hay ninguna vista previa disponible - 2007 |