Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores the psychology of language and its neural substrate and shows how linguistics could benefit by incorporating insights from research on language acquisition, language processing, neurolinguistics and other disciplines concerned with human linguistic abilities.
Trade ReviewThis work is distinguished by meticulous presentation and brilliant thinking. Germanistik (Redaktion) A wonderful book and real rarity: a scholarly treatise on language that is also accessible for even beginning level students. I know of no book that does a better job of exploring and even celebrating the many unique aspects of language, while at the same time highlighting its many deep connections with other domains of the human cognition. -- Professor Michael Tomasello, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology This well-informed, comprehensive book takes a fresh look at long-standing issues within psycholinguistics. And it is so well-written that it often reads more like a novel than a textbook. -- Adele E. Goldberg, Professor of Linguistics, Princeton University This work is distinguished by meticulous presentation and brilliant thinking. A wonderful book and real rarity: a scholarly treatise on language that is also accessible for even beginning level students. I know of no book that does a better job of exploring and even celebrating the many unique aspects of language, while at the same time highlighting its many deep connections with other domains of the human cognition. This well-informed, comprehensive book takes a fresh look at long-standing issues within psycholinguistics. And it is so well-written that it often reads more like a novel than a textbook.
Table of Contents1. Introduction; PART I: THE BASIC SPECIFICATIONS; 2. Language Processing: Speed and Flexibility; 3. Language Acquisition: Robustness; 4. Language in the Brain; 5. Language and Other Cognitive Processes; 6. Biological Underpinnings; PART II: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF LANGUAGE; 7. Words; 8. On Rules and Regularity; 9. Syntactic Constructions; 10. The Cognitive Enterprise; Bibliography.
