Foundations of Language - Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution

Already hailed as a masterpiece, Foundations of Language offers a brilliant overhaul of the last thirty-five years of research in generative linguistics and related fields. "Few books really deserve the cliché 'this should be read by every researcher in the field'," writes Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct, "but Ray Jackendoff's Foundations of Language does." Foundations of Language offers a radically new understanding of how language, the brain, and perception intermesh. The book renews the promise of early generative linguistics: that language can be a valuable entrée into understanding the human mind and brain. The approach is remarkably interdisciplinary. Behind its innovations is Jackendoff's fundamental proposal that the creativity of language derives from multiple parallel generative systems linked by interface components. This shift in basic architecture makes possible a radical reconception of mental grammar and how it is learned. As a consequence, Jackendoff is able to reintegrate linguistics with philosophy of mind, cognitive and developmental psychology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and computational linguistics. Among the major topics treated are language processing, the relation of language to perception, the innateness of language, and the evolution of the language capacity, as well as more standard issues in linguistic theory such as the roles of syntax and the lexicon. In addition, Jackendoff offers a sophisticated theory of semantics that incorporates insights from philosophy of language, logic and formal semantics, lexical semantics of various stripes, cognitive grammar, psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic approaches, and the author's own conceptual semantics.

Table des matières

• Part I: Psychological and Biological Foundations


• 1.: The Complexity of Linguistic Structure


• 2.: Language as a Mental Phenomenon


• 3.: Combinatoriality


• 4.: Universal Grammar


• Part II: Architectural Foundations


• 5.: The Parallel Architecture


• 6.: Lexical Storage Versus Online Construction


• 7.: Implications for Processing


• 8.: An Evolutionary Perspective on the Architecture


• Part III: Semantic and Conceptual Foundations


• 9.: Semantics as a Mentalistic Enterprise


• 10.: Reference and Truth


• 11.: Lexical Semantics


• 12.: Phrasal Semantics


• Concluding Remarks

A propos de l'auteur

Ray Jackendoff is Seth Merrin Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He is a member of the External Faculty of the Santa Fe institute, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a former president of both the Linguistic Society of America and the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.

Résumé

Proposes an holistic theory of the relation between the sounds, structure, and meaning of language and their relation to mind and brain. This book provides insights on the evolution of language, thought, and communication.

Texte suppl.

Few books really deserve the cliché "this should be read by every researcher in the field," but Ray Jackendoff's Foundations of Language does. I think it is the most important book in the sciences of language to have appeared in many years. Jackendoff has long had a genius for seeing both the forest and the trees, and he puts his gift to good use here in a dazzling combination of theory-building and factual integration. The result is a compelling new view of language and its place in the natural world.

Commentaire

Jackendoff engages in a moderate and reasonable way with some of the critics of Chomsky's many controversial claims ... well written and provides a valuable and interesting account of the Chomskian approach to linguistics and how Jackendoff thinks this school of thought should reform itself in order to respond better to some of the intellectual challenges that it currently faces. Applied Cognitive Psychology

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: Ray Jackendoff, Ray (Co-Director Jackendoff, Ray (Professor of Linguistics Jackendoff, Jackendoff Ray
• Edition: Oxford University Press
• Langues: Anglais
• Format d'édition: Livre Relié
• Sortie: 24.01.2002
• EAN: 9780198270126
• ISBN: 978-0-19-827012-6
• Pages: 498
• Catégorie: Sciences humaines, art, musique > Psychologie