Language Rules! - Secrets of a Uniquely Human Ability

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.

List of 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.

About the author

Asya M. Pereltsvaig has taught linguistics at Yale and Stanford, and has been teaching in several lifelong education programs since 2010. Her most recent book, Languages of the World: An Introduction, 4th edition (2023) was also published by Cambridge University Press.

Product details

• Authors: Asya M. Pereltsvaig, Asya M. (Independent Scholar) Pereltsvaig
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.05.2026
• EAN: 9781009658294
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0965829-4
• No. of pages: 298
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / General, Grammar & vocabulary, Communication Studies, Psycholinguistics, Grammar, syntax & morphology, Historical & comparative linguistics, Language learning: grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, Grammar, syntax and morphology, Psycholinguistics and cognitive linguistics, Historical and comparative linguistics