Genealogy Books - The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language (P.S.)

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Accessable and fascinating
Comment: I'll start by pointing out that much of Pinker's view is controversial in the details but that I
generally agree with his approach. Academic linguists will no doubt dispute much of what he claims,
but as an overview for non-specialists, I think this book is a great place to start. It will
definitely get you interested in linguistics and language, and the debates about it.
As for my
background, I teach English in Japan, have a degree in political and logical philosophy, and have
studied some basic linguistics. The general approach here seems indisputible to me; that the human
brain is hard wired for language and that all human languages share some general structures. In the
details, there are a lot of avenues for argument, but does anyone out there really take behaviourism
or post-modernism seriously as a linguistic theory? If you do, the underlying concepts you rely on
for your frameworks also make any criticism of competing theories inconsistent. I highly recommend
this book, but don't take all his claims at face value.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Deeply Flawed But Fascinating
Comment: Steven Pinker's best-known book has some wonderful chapters, some so-so chapters, and a few that
damage the credibility of the rest. Chapter 6 on how the sounds of spoken languages are formed is
itself worth the price of the book. Chapter 2 on the grammatic differences between languages is
fascinating. Chapters 4, 5, 7 and 8, which talk about grammar and its role in determining meaning,
are well-meaning but become repetitive and obvious. When talking about Artificial Intelligence he
is ill-informed and unaccountably pessimistic about future advances in the field. In Chapters 3 and
9 he proposes a "language instinct" and in chapter 10 a "grammar gene," but both hew to discredited
Chompskian models and don't even try to establish any mechanism. In chapter 11 he dismisses the
whole field of non-human communication in toto, citing such Christian apologists as Herbert Terrace.
Instead he sets up a series of straw men, claiming that because that apes cannot master advanced
grammar in human languages (undisputed), somehow this makes their mental processes unworthy of
study. This contradicts his earlier claim, in chapter 3, that mental processes can exist quite
independently of grammar and language. He apparently never even considers that non-human grammar
may differ from ours. Worse, he doesn't even mention non-primate language research! 12 is a
vitriolic dismissal of all his critics, and 13 falls into the common trap of describing evolution as
"wanting to build" this or that, a common convention for which he could be excused if this were his
only failing.

Throughout, Pinker maintains a breezy, readable tone full of pop-culture references
- which unfortunately becomes infuriating when it's obvious he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Wealth of Information & Fun at the Same Time
Comment: There is a wealth of useful information in this book, and it's one of the rare ones that is an easy
fun read because of Pinker's writing style, approach, and real-life examples. It's not esoteric
at all. Many of the concepts in this book and it's examples can be passed on to students, who
occassionally ask questions in particular about English and in general about second language
acquisition. One doesn't have to have an interest in language to enjoy this book. The
bibliography and references to past and present researchers from a variety of disciplines are
presented, from Boas to Chomsky, to biological, physiological and psychological studies. Give it a
whirl.

Customer Rating:

Summary: This book is great.
Comment: At the time I was reading this book it felt like a great friend came over to stay for a while. It is
fun, interesting, even just. Professor Steven Pinker brings up interesting questions, provides
convincing examples for why should we care, and gives excellent answers. Did I buy everything he
suggests? No, though surprisingly a good part of it. But a book on scientific matters is not
expected to provide the final and only word. And yes, some parts of this book can be demanding. You
may choose to just scan them and hope you've got the basic idea right. The bottom line: those who
are interested with language and the possibility of effective communication between people are
likely to be enriched tremendously by this book, and enjoy while at it as well.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Awesome
Comment: Considering I am a junior in high school, I probably do not resemble most of the people who have
read this book. I am, however, very interested in foreign languages. I set out to learn something
about linguistics, but because I have no background in the area, every book I picked up was
incomprehensible to me. I stumbled across "The Language Instinct" a couple of weeks ago and I have
yet to put it down. Pinker explains concepts without assuming any previous knowledge, yet he does it
without over-simplifying anything. He also manages to make it humorous- I actually laughed out loud
a couple of times. I told my French teacher about it, and now she's bugging me to finish it so she
can borrow it. I don't know how a linguist would react to the book, but I highly recommend it to
anyone interested in linguistics, including those with no formal study on the subject.

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