The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language (Penguin Science)

The structure of the book is very clear and each of the chapters is devoted to a separate subject area; to the degree that virtually each of them could be enjoyable and informative even when read separately.

There is also a comprehensive glossary included, comprising of obscure X-bar theory, anyone? I would say that the book could be read by a reasonably natural-science-literate 16 year old and it doesn't assume basic knowledge above A-levels, although of course people familiar with biology, linguistics, scientific psychology, cognitive science or even old-fashioned grammar will find it easier to read without a frequent need to consult the glossary.

All in all it's an excellent popular science book, both informative and entertaining. If I was to recommend a book for a non-psychologist interested in the science of the mind, "The Language Instinct" would be in my top three. Pinker starts with the universality of language: We all speak, and in the deep, structural sense, speak equally well.

But then, the universality of language doesn't have to mean that it is innate, after all language is such a useful thing that it could have been invented from new many a time in human history. We don't use feet for eating but nobody claims that we have a special 'use-hands-for-eating' gene.

The rest of the book is a rich, powerful argument in support of the thesis that a mechanism for language learning is not only universal but innate, that Children actually reinvent it, generation after generation - not because they are generally smart, not because it's useful to them, but because they just can't help it. One of the most important concepts introduced in the book is one of 'mentalese'.

Mentalese is an universal, underlying language of the mind, related to, but different from, all natural spoken languages.

It is used for thinking and it is from mentalese that the thoughts get translated into the words and phrases of natural languages. Pinker uses this concept to put to rest the hypothesis of linguistic determinism: That is why Orwellian Newspeak will never remove certain concepts from people's heads.

Concepts of freedom and equality are thinkable even if nameless. Mental life goes independently of particular language. A lot of the book is devoted to the mechanics of language, and Pinker looks at it from the point of view of structure Chomsky's generative grammar as well as describing the underlying neurological and genetic basis. These chapters contain plenty of rather terrifying tree-diagrams, parsing charts and logical formulae as well as grammar and anatomical terms.

However, the book is written in the way that actually allows for skipping the strictly technical stuff. Of course, the understanding gained in this way will be somehow shallower, but it is still possible to learn something even if all the graphs are skipped. And there are real gems of information and explanation here.

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The effortless way with which children acquire language must have surely amazed any parent who ever stopped to think how complicated speaking actually is. Pinker shows how natural and good children are at talking often by comparing them with adults learning foreign languages consciously in comparison to their rather poor performance on many other mental and physical tasks, and demonstrates the logic of the whole process including the errors that are made during learning.

The book also shows why it makes sense to have a critical period for language learning it seems virtually impossible to acquire language after early adolescence if none was learned before and why input from other live human beings is needed for language acquisition. The two closing chapters of the book are amongst my favourites.

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In fact, if you pick this volume up and are not sure if it's worth reading, go straight to the chapter titled 'Language Mavens'. It focuses on the difference between the rules of natural language as it is actually spoken, which are strictly adhered to by all people that use the particular dialect and the prescriptive rules that carefully delineate the way that the speech is supposed to be.

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Pinker is rather ruthlessly dismissive of the prescribers and he treats most of their rules as shibboleths, designed to differentiate between the elite and the 'uneducated masses'. On the other hand he has a very sensible attitude to the practical proposition that people should learn the 'standard dialect' as socially useful and especially to improving the standards of the written prose.

After all, written language is not an instinct. We are biologically designed to speak, but not write or read. Hard cover in dust jacket.

The Language Instinct

William Morrow, , first printing. Near fine in near fine dust jacket. The Wild Muse Published: Russell Books Ltd Published: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, Quarter green cloth with illustrated paper boards, in a green card slipcase. An Unused, unmarked and unblemished copy. Ships same or next business day! William Morrow and Company, Inc. Collectible - Very Good. Used - Very Good.

Light to moderate shelf wear. Magers and Quinn Booksellers Condition: Strawberry Hill Books Published: Pictorial boards with green cloth spine. Owners details at begining and end of book..

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Allen Lane, Penguin Press Ships from the UK. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Your purchase also supports literacy charities. Better World Books Ltd Condition: A clean, unmarked and unclipped copy..