Language in Cognition Uncovering Mental Structures and the Rules Behind Them
Product details
Biographical note
Cedric Boeckx is Research Professor at the Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA), and a member of the Center for Theoretical Linguistics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Most recently he was Associate Professor of Linguistics at Harvard University. He is the author of Islands and Chains (2003), Linguistic Minimalism (2006), Understanding Minimalist Syntax (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), and Bare Syntax (2008); and the founding co-editor, with Kleanthes K. Grohmann, of the Open Access journal Biolinguistics.Language in Cognition Uncovering Mental Structures and the Rules Behind Them
"Amongst the book's strengths, particularly commendable are the connections made to other cognitive domains and the biological sciences." (<i>The Linguist,</i> July 2010)<br /> <br /> "Although each subsection is brief, the author includes chapter-by-chapter notes of cited material at the end of the text. The motivated reader will have no trouble tracking down the primary sources that the author discusses." (<i>PsycCRITIQUES</i>, March 2010)
- Guides undergraduate students through the core questions of linguistics and cognitive science, and provides tools that will help them think about the field in a structured way
- Uses the study of language and how language informs the structure and function of the human mind to introduce the major ideas in modern cognitive science, including its history and controversies
- Explores questions such as: what does it mean to say that linguistics is part of the cognitive sciences; how do the core properties of language compare with the core properties of other human cognitive abilities such as vision, music, mathematics, and other mental building blocks; and what is the relationship between language and thought?
- Includes an indispensable study guide as well as extensive references to encourage further independent study
Acknowledgments viii
Prologue xi
Part I Ever Since Chomsky 1
1 Mind Matters: Chomsky’s Dangerous Idea 3
2 The Mechanization of the Mind Picture 14
3 How the Mind Grows: From Meno to Noam 41
Part II Unweaving the Sentence 55
4 Mental Chemistry 57
5 The Variety of Linguistic Experience: The Towers of Babel and Pisa 82
6 All Roads Lead to Universal Grammar 95
Part III The Mental Foundations of Behavior 109
7 Making Sense of Meaning: An Instruction Manual 111
8 Wonderful Mental Life: Unthinkable without Language 120
9 Grammar Caught in the Act 133
Part IV Missing Links 147
10 The (Mis)Measure of Mind 149
11 Homo Combinans 163
12 Computational Organology 173
Epilogue 183
Notes 189
Guide to Further Study 211
References 219
Index 242
By focusing on the study of language and how language informs the structure and function of the human mind, this much-needed textbook offers a point of entry into the fascinating territory of cognitive science, including its history and controversies. It contains a comprehensive study guide as well as extensive references to encourage further independent study and to structure learning. Focusing mainly on syntactic issues, Language in Cognition is a unique contribution to this burgeoning field of study.
–Noam Chomsky
"No one had integrated, yet, the key four notions "language", "cognition", "mental" and "structures" in such a masterly and original way. A wealth of discoveries awaits both the novice reader and the expert. Cedric's art of revealing deep connections between fields, authors and ideas has frequently prompted me, while reading this book, to wonder why I had not seen those connections before."
–Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, University of Arizona
“If Linguistics is the queen of the cognitive sciences, then Cedric Boeckx is her official court biographer. In one short book, he clearly outlines how the developments in linguistics have upended earlier empiricist conceptions of mind and spurred exciting investigations of human evolution.”
–Norbert Hornstein, University of Maryland
“Language in Cognition is not so much a book with facts and concepts, as a long argument and discussion with the reader. It is an argument that every serious student of the mind sciences should know, even if they don't join the choir. Boeckx masterfully presents the material, showing why biology must form a core part of the mind sciences, and how the mind sciences, and especially language, can pose new challenges for biology.”
–Marc Hauser, Harvard College, Author of Moral Minds
“Cedric Boeckx provides a wonderful, modern review of the necessity of mentalism, of innate structure for all of the mind, and the role of mathematics in articulating different principles of representation for different modules of mind---a summary of the Chomskyan revolution over the last half century. He brings perspective to the project by connecting the history of philosophy with modern experimentation showing that the “generative” approach to both language and mind has received stunning support in acquisition, processing, and aphasia. At the same time, he acknowledges many mysteries: we do not know what our “gut feelings” contain, though they are central to humanity and dignity. They may also contain amalgams combined from different modules in ways we do not understand, but which also may ultimately submit to mathematical representation. The book situates grammar in the broader sciences in a manner accessible to the generally educated student or curious layman. It is a superb introduction to the fundamental role of generative thought in modern cognitive science, weaving together psychological, biological, and philosophical perspectives.”
–Tom Roeper, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"Amongst the book's strengths, particularly commendable are the connections made to other cognitive domains and the biological sciences." (<i>The Linguist,</i> July 2010)<br /> <br /> "Although each subsection is brief, the author includes chapter-by-chapter notes of cited material at the end of the text. The motivated reader will have no trouble tracking down the primary sources that the author discusses." (<i>PsycCRITIQUES</i>, March 2010)
- Guides undergraduate students through the core questions of linguistics and cognitive science, and provides tools that will help them think about the field in a structured way
- Uses the study of language and how language informs the structure and function of the human mind to introduce the major ideas in modern cognitive science, including its history and controversies
- Explores questions such as: what does it mean to say that linguistics is part of the cognitive sciences; how do the core properties of language compare with the core properties of other human cognitive abilities such as vision, music, mathematics, and other mental building blocks; and what is the relationship between language and thought?
- Includes an indispensable study guide as well as extensive references to encourage further independent study
Acknowledgments viii
Prologue xi
Part I Ever Since Chomsky 1
1 Mind Matters: Chomsky’s Dangerous Idea 3
2 The Mechanization of the Mind Picture 14
3 How the Mind Grows: From Meno to Noam 41
Part II Unweaving the Sentence 55
4 Mental Chemistry 57
5 The Variety of Linguistic Experience: The Towers of Babel and Pisa 82
6 All Roads Lead to Universal Grammar 95
Part III The Mental Foundations of Behavior 109
7 Making Sense of Meaning: An Instruction Manual 111
8 Wonderful Mental Life: Unthinkable without Language 120
9 Grammar Caught in the Act 133
Part IV Missing Links 147
10 The (Mis)Measure of Mind 149
11 Homo Combinans 163
12 Computational Organology 173
Epilogue 183
Notes 189
Guide to Further Study 211
References 219
Index 242
By focusing on the study of language and how language informs the structure and function of the human mind, this much-needed textbook offers a point of entry into the fascinating territory of cognitive science, including its history and controversies. It contains a comprehensive study guide as well as extensive references to encourage further independent study and to structure learning. Focusing mainly on syntactic issues, Language in Cognition is a unique contribution to this burgeoning field of study.
–Noam Chomsky
"No one had integrated, yet, the key four notions "language", "cognition", "mental" and "structures" in such a masterly and original way. A wealth of discoveries awaits both the novice reader and the expert. Cedric's art of revealing deep connections between fields, authors and ideas has frequently prompted me, while reading this book, to wonder why I had not seen those connections before."
–Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, University of Arizona
“If Linguistics is the queen of the cognitive sciences, then Cedric Boeckx is her official court biographer. In one short book, he clearly outlines how the developments in linguistics have upended earlier empiricist conceptions of mind and spurred exciting investigations of human evolution.”
–Norbert Hornstein, University of Maryland
“Language in Cognition is not so much a book with facts and concepts, as a long argument and discussion with the reader. It is an argument that every serious student of the mind sciences should know, even if they don't join the choir. Boeckx masterfully presents the material, showing why biology must form a core part of the mind sciences, and how the mind sciences, and especially language, can pose new challenges for biology.”
–Marc Hauser, Harvard College, Author of Moral Minds
“Cedric Boeckx provides a wonderful, modern review of the necessity of mentalism, of innate structure for all of the mind, and the role of mathematics in articulating different principles of representation for different modules of mind---a summary of the Chomskyan revolution over the last half century. He brings perspective to the project by connecting the history of philosophy with modern experimentation showing that the “generative” approach to both language and mind has received stunning support in acquisition, processing, and aphasia. At the same time, he acknowledges many mysteries: we do not know what our “gut feelings” contain, though they are central to humanity and dignity. They may also contain amalgams combined from different modules in ways we do not understand, but which also may ultimately submit to mathematical representation. The book situates grammar in the broader sciences in a manner accessible to the generally educated student or curious layman. It is a superb introduction to the fundamental role of generative thought in modern cognitive science, weaving together psychological, biological, and philosophical perspectives.”
–Tom Roeper, University of Massachusetts, Amherst