Language Unlimited - The Science Behind Our Most Creative Power

Human language allows us to plan, communicate, and create new ideas, without limit. Yet we have only finite experiences, and our languages have finite stores of words. Drawing on research from neuroscience, psychology, and linguistics, David Adger takes us on a journey to the hidden structure behind all we say (or sign) and understand.

List of contents

• 1: Creating language


• 2: Beyond symbols and signals


• 3: A sense of structure


• 4: The question of Psammetichus


• 5: Impossible patterns


• 6: All in the mind


• 7: A law of language


• 8: Botlang


• 9: Merge


• 10: Grammar and culture

About the author

David Adger is Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London, current President of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain, and inventor of the monsters' language for the ITV series Beowulf. His research has been reported on in New Scientist and The Conversation, and he has appeared on Sky News, BBC Radio 4, and Australia's DriveTime. His 25 years of teaching have taken him all over the world, including to the foothills of the Himalayas.

Summary

Human language allows us to plan, communicate, and create new ideas, without limit. Yet we have only finite experiences, and our languages have finite stores of words. Drawing on research from neuroscience, psychology, and linguistics, David Adger takes us on a journey to the hidden structure behind all we say (or sign) and understand.

Product details

• Authors: David Adger, David (Professor of Linguistics Adger, Adger David
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.07.2021
• EAN: 9780192843067
• ISBN: 978-0-19-284306-7
• No. of pages: 272
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; popular science, SCIENCE / General, PSYCHOLOGY / Cognitive Psychology & Cognition, Cognition & cognitive psychology, Psycholinguistics, Cognition and cognitive psychology, Psycholinguistics and cognitive linguistics