Pragmatics (Language Workbooks)
By Jean Sti Peccei
* Publisher:Routledge
* Number Of Pages:112
* Publication Date:1999-09-02
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0415205239
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780415205238
Product Description:
In Pragmatics, the study of meaning derived from context, Jean Stilwell Peccei offers a practical introduction to this core area of linguistics, providing a range of activities, discussion questions and further reading.
Partitions and Atoms of Clause Structure: Subjects, Agreement, Case and Clitics (Routledge Leading Linguists, 2)
By Domin Sportiche
* Publisher:Routledge
* Number Of Pages:448
* Publication Date:1998-06-22
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0415169267
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780415169264
Product Description:
This collection builds on the theory of Principles and Parameters and its Economy/Minimalist descendants. The essays progressively develop a view of syntactic structures in which syntactic properties are increasingly analyzed as atomized in progressively smaller elementary components and partitioned in the way these elementary components are represented. Dominique Sportiche argues that as a consequence of this view, languages do not differ at all in their syntactic organization.
Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling
By James Paul Gee
* Publisher:Routledge
* Number Of Pages:144
* Publication Date:2004-09-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0415317770
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780415317771
Product Description:
Why do poor and minority students under-perform in school? Do computer games help or hinder learning? What can new research in psychology teach educational policy-makers?
In this major new book, James Gee tackles the 'big ideas' about language, literacy and learning, applying his findings to real problems facing educationalists today.
He tackles controversial debates such as the New Literacy Studies, and the idea that the academic language required to study, for example, Mathematics and the Sciences, is exclusionary and places unfair demands on poor and minority students. Gee also explores learning outside the classroom, looking at computer and video games and comparing the way a child interacts with others and technology to learn and play, with school-based learning in science classrooms.
Bringing together the latest research from a number of disciplines, Language, Literacy and Learning is a bold, ambitious book by a leading figure in the field. It is essential reading for anyone interested in education and language.
Summary: Interesting...but pricey and unnecessary for me
Rating: 3
I've been impressed with James Paul Gee's other books (Intro to Discourse Analysis and What Video Games Have to Teach...), but while this book is nice and interesting, I was not drawn to it like the others, and it is kind of pricey, frankly. Maybe I'm too aware already of his philosophy/point of view, so I didn't get anything really new from this book. Thus, not a poorly written book, just one that I did not need, and one that has a high price for whatever reason.
Summary: Gee is the man...
Rating: 5
Awesome, amazing perspectives on the ways we teach, learn, and use language. Play theory, multimodality, new media, social learning, and cultural considerations all come together in a very logical and meaningful way. Forget the highlighter when reading this book; it's all that good.
Patterns in Language: An Introduction to Language and Literary Style (Interface)
By Joa Thornborrow
* Publisher:Routledge
* Number Of Pages:280
* Publication Date:1998-03-26
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0415140633
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780415140638
Product Description:
Patterns in Language addresses the real needs of students who may not have an extensive background either in traditional literature or in linguistic theory. This student-friendly textbook uses the principles of linguistic analysis to investigate the aesthetic use of language in literary (and non-literary) texts. Written in straightforward, accessible language with imaginative examples and a humorous tone, it shows how linguistic knowledge can enhance and enrich the analysis of texts. The authors borrow from traditional stylistics, but focus primarily on the recurring linguistic patterns which are used by writers of poetry, fiction and drama. The authors draw on a wide variety of textual sources to illustrate their observations, making reference to both canonical literature and modern literary texts, as well as to popular fiction, television and the language of advertising. Exercises designed to develop the students' understanding of the material are provided at every stage, and sample answers are also included.
The English Studies Book
By Rob Pope
* Publisher:Routledge
* Number Of Pages:440
* Publication Date:1998-03-27
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0415128668
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780415128667
Product Description:
The English Studies Book is revolutionary in scope and design. It combines a critical dictionary, anthology and study guide and is designed specifically for students studying English Language and/or Literature at colleges and universities. An anthology of diverse and provocative texts representing non-literary and modern media texts as well as poetry, prose and drama, the book is also a straightforward introduction to the major theoretical positions in English criticism and literature, providing practical guidance on how to apply them in the close reading of texts. Interdisciplinary in approach and highly flexible in its range of applications, this book provides students and teachers with a text which supports learning and teaching across the whole range of introductory courses in English language, literature and culture.
Early Language Development: Bridging brain and behaviour (Trends in Language Acquisition Research)
By Angela D. Friederici, Guillaume Thierry
* Publisher:John Benjamins Publishing Company
* Number Of Pages:263
* Publication Date:2008-02-14
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:9027234752
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9789027234759
Pragmatism and the Forms of Sense: Language, Perception, Technics (American and European Philosophy)
By Robert E. Innis
* Publisher:Pennsylvania State University Press
* Number Of Pages:288
* Publication Date:2002-12
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:027102223X
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780271022239
Product Description:
Making sense of the world around us is a process involving both semiotic and material mediation - the use of signs and sign systems (preeminently language) and various kinds of tools (technics). As we use them, we experience them subjectively as extensions of our bodily selves and objectively as instruments for accessing the world with which we interact. Emphasizing this bipolar nature of language and technics, understood as intertwined "forms of sense," Robert Innis studies the multiple ways in which they are rooted in and transform human perceptual structures in both their individual and social dimensions. The book foregrounds and is organized around the notion of "semiotic embodiment." Language and technics are viewed as "probes" upon which we rely, in which we are embodied, and that themselves embody and structure our primary modes of encountering the world. While making an important substantive contribution to present debates about the "biasing" of perception by language and technics, Innis also seeks to provide a methodological model of how complementary analytical resources from American pragmatist and various European traditions can be deployed fruitfully in the pursuit of new insights into the phenomenon of meaning-making.
World talk arerican English - Improve Your Listening and Speaking Skills.
World Talk is aimed at intermediate level learners who have already built up some confidence listening to and speaking their target language. The interactive games and quizzes will help to further develop fluency and understanding of the language. There are 10 interactive games to play featuring topics such as food, weather, directions, sentence construction and animals.
更多详细信息
World Talk American English
作者：Euro Talk Interactive
Edition: 2
由Topics Entertainment出版, 2007
ISBN 1843525011, 9781843525011
World Talk is aimed at intermediate level learners who have already built up some confidence listening to and speaking their target language. The interactive games and quizzes will help to further develop fluency and understanding of the language. There are 10 interactive games to play featuring topics such as food, weather, directions, sentence construction and animals.
World Talk is aimed at intermediate level learners who have already built up some confidence listening to and speaking their target language.
The interactive games and quizzes will help to further develop fluency and understanding of the language. There are 10 interactive games to play featuring topics such as food, weather, directions, sentence construction and animals.
Once you’ve built up knowledge with the games, try the TV quiz for a challenge, or the dictation practice to improve listening and writing skills. We know this style of learning works as it’s how we learn as children: from constant repetition by parents and other adults. Once you’ve clicked on the life belt to see what’s required of you, then click on the question mark for the repetitive element and you’ll be surprised at how soon the different sounds sink into the brain.
It’s similar to when you visit a country - at first it’s difficult to understand anything, but you gradually manage to pick out words until you are constructing more and more complex sentences and improving fluency.
Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us (The Language Library)
By Nicholas Evans
* Publisher:Wiley-Blackwell
* Number Of Pages:304
* Publication Date:2009-05-18
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0631233059
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780631233053
Product Description:
The next century will see more than half of the world’s 6,000 languages become extinct, and most of these will disappear without being adequately recorded. Written by one of the leading figures in language documentation, this fascinating book explores what humanity stands to lose as a result.
* Explores the unique philosophy, knowledge, and cultural assumptions of languages, and their impact on our collective intellectual heritage
* Questions why such linguistic diversity exists in the first place, and how can we can best respond to the challenge of recording and documenting these fragile oral traditions while they are still with us
* Written by one of the leading figures in language documentation, and draws on a wealth of vivid examples from his own field experience
* Brings conceptual issues vividly to life by weaving in portraits of individual ‘last speakers’ and anecdotes about linguists and their discoveries
Routes to Language: Studies in Honor of Melissa Bowerman
By Virginia C. Mueller-Gathercole
* Publisher:Psychology Press
* Number Of Pages:480
* Publication Date:2008-12-19
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:1841697168
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9781841697161
Product Description:
This book celebrates one of the lights of the field of child language, Melissa Bowerman, with contributions from leading experts who have been directly influenced by her work. It provides the most up-to-date statement of key positions and theorizing regarding fundamental questions in the field of child language development.
The Genesis of Syntactic Complexity: Diachrony, ontogeny, neuro-cognition, evolution
By T. Givón
* Publisher:John Benjamins Publishing Company
* Number Of Pages:366
* Publication Date:2009-02-04
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:9027232539
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9789027232533
Synopsis
Complex hierarchic syntax is a hallmark of human language. The highest level of syntactic complexity, recursive-embedded clauses, has been singled out by some for a special status as the evolutionary apex of the uniquely - human language faculty - evolutionary yet mysteriously immune to Darwinian adaptive selection. Prof. Givsn's book treats syntactic complexity as an integral part of the evolutionary rise of human communication. The book first describes grammar as an adaptive instrument of communication, assembled upon the pre-existing platform of pre-linguistic object- and-event cognition and mental representation. It then surveys the two grand developmental trends of human language: diachrony, the communal enterprise directly responsible for fashioning synchronic morpho-syntax and cross-language diversity; and ontogeny, the individual endeavor directly responsible for acquiring the competent use of grammar. The genesis of syntactic complexity along these two developmental trends is compared with second language acquisition, pre-grammatical pidgin and pre-human communication. The evolutionary relevance of language diachrony, language ontogeny and pidginization is argued for on general bio-evolutionary grounds: It is the organism's adaptive on-line behavior-invention, learning and skill acquisition - that is the common thread running through all three developmental trends. The neuro-cognitive circuits that underlie language, and their evolutionary underpinnings, are described and assessed. Recursive embedding turns out to be not an adaptive target on its own, but the by-product of two distinct adaptive moves: (i) the recruitment of conjoined clauses as modal operatorson, or referential specifiers of, other clauses; and (ii) the subsequent condensation of paratactic into syntactic structures.
Table of Contents
Preface
Pt. I Background
Ch. 1 Complexity: An overview 3
Ch. 2 The adaptive approach to grammar 19
Pt. II Diachrony
Ch. 3 The diachrony of grammar 41
Ch. 4 Multiple routes to clause-union: The diachrony of complex verb phrases 61
Ch. 5 The diachrony of relative clauses: Syntactic complexity in the noun phrase 97
Pt. III Ontogeny
Ch. 6 Child language acquisition 123
Ch. 7 The ontogeny of complex verb phrases: How children learn to negotiate fact and desire 129
Ch. 8 The ontogeny of relative clauses: How children learn to negotiate complex reference 205
Ch. 9 Second-language pidgin 241
Pt. IV Biology
Ch. 10 From single words to verbal clauses: Where do simple clauses come from? 251
Ch. 11 The neuro-cognition of syntactic complexity 283
Ch. 12 Syntactic complexity and language evolution 305
Bibliography 339
Index 357
Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants, and the Origins of Language
By Dean Falk
* Publisher:Basic Books
* Number Of Pages:256
* Publication Date:2009-03-13
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0465002196
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780465002191
Product Description:
Scientists have long theorized that abstract, symbolic thinking evolved to help humans negotiate such classically male activities as hunting, tool making, and warfare, and eventually developed into spoken language. In Finding Our Tongues, Dean Falk overturns this established idea, offering a daring new theory that springs from a simple observation: parents all over the world, in all cultures, talk to infants by using baby talk or “Motherese.” Falk shows how Motherese developed as a way of reassuring babies when mothers had to put them down in order to do work. The melodic vocalizations of early Motherese not only provided the basis of language but also contributed to the growth of music and art.
Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with classic anthropology, Falk offers a potent challenge to conventional wisdom about the emergence of human language.
Summary: "Finding our Toungues" - an entertaining and informative read.
Rating: 5
"Finding our Tongues" is an exceptionally well written, informative and entertaining work - a fast read that I couldn't put down. I have spent a significant amount of time studying Spanish in the past 6 months and as a result I experienced several Ah-Ha moments while reading Falk's explanation of the stages of acquiring language. I was inspired by the way that the author pulled together evidence from many disciplines and knitted it all together to support her thesis that the evolution of language was driven by the interactions between mothers and infants and the need to "put the baby down". This would be an excellent book for anyone who has or is planning on having children and who would like to understand the stages of language acquisition. Having read this book I find myself hearing babies cry in a totally different way. If you are interested in the evolution of language, music, art or child development you must read this book!
Multilingualism and Sign Languages: From the Great Plains to Australia (Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities Series, Vol. 12)
By Ceil Lucas
* Publisher:Gallaudet University Press
* Number Of Pages:296
* Publication Date:2006-11-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:1563682966
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9781563682964
Product Description:
The 12th Volume in the Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities Series The latest entry in the Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities series continues to mine the rich resources found in signing communities throughout the world. Divided into four parts, this collection features 16 internationally renowned linguistics experts whose absorbing studies reflect an astonishing range of linguistic diversity. The sole essay in Part One: Multilingualism describes historic and contemporary uses of North American Indian Sign Language. Part Two: Language Contact examines language-contact phenomena between Auslan/English interpreters and Deaf people in Australia, and the features of bimodal bilingualism in hearing, Italian, native signers. Part Three: Variation reports the results of a study on location variation in Australian Sign Language. Part Four: Discourse Analysis begins with an analysis of how deaf parents and their hearing toddlers establish and maintain sight triangles when conducting signed conversations. The ensuing chapter explores the use of evaluation within an informal narrative in Langue des Signes Québécoise. The final chapter explicates how a signer depersonalizes the concept of “self” in an American Sign Language narrative through the use of signs for “he” and “I.”
Summary: Sign Language - Cultural and Regional Differences Around The World
Rating: 5
In Multilingualism and Sign Languages: From the Great Plains to Australia, 16 linguistics experts share their knowledge about the incredible diversity found among users of sign language throughout the world. Sign language takes on unique ethnic and regional dialects, and this book examines this little known aspect of sign language in great detail. Published by Gallaudet University Press, the intended audience is most likely graduate students, but advanced sign language students may also find something of value within the chapters of this book.
Translating and Interpreting Conflict. (Approaches to Translation Studies 28)
By SALAMA-CARR; Myriam (ed.)
* Publisher:Rodopi
* Number Of Pages:288
* Publication Date:2007-05-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:9042022000
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9789042022003
Product Description:
The relationship between translation and conflict is highly relevant in today's globalised and fragmented world, and this is attracting increased academic interest. This collection of essays was inspired by the first international conference to directly address the translator and interpreter s involvement in situations of military and ideological conflict, and its representation in fiction. The collection adopts an interdisciplinary approach, and the contributors to the volume bring to bear a variety of perspectives informed by media studies, historiography, literary scholarship and self-reflective interpreting and translation practice. The reader is presented with compelling case studies of the embeddedness of translators and interpreters, either on the ground or as portrayed in fiction, and of their roles in mediating, memorizing or rewriting conflict. The theoretical reflection which the essays generate regarding mediation and neutrality, ethical involvement and responsibility, and the implications for translator and interpreter training, will be of interest to researchers in translation, interpreting, media, intercultural and postcolonial studies. CONTENTS*** Introduction: Myriam SALAMA-CARR*** Part I: Interpreters and Translators on the Front Line*** Jerry PALMER: Interpreting and Translation for Western Media in Iraq*** Mila DRAGOVIC-DROUET: The Practice of Translation and Interpreting During the Conflicts in the Former Yugoslavia (1991-1999)*** Lawrence Wang-chi WONG: Translators and Interpreters During the Opium War between Britain and China (1839-1842) *** Part II: Intertwining Memory and Translation*** Piotr KUHIWCZAK: The Grammar of Survival. How Do We Read Holocaust Testimonies?*** Paschalis NIKOLAOU: The Troy of Always: Translations of Conflict in Christopher Logue's War Music*** Part III : Language and Ideology*** Roberto A. VALDE谩癗: Ideological Independence or Negative Mediation: BBC Mundo and CNN en Espa谩纎l s (translated) Reporting of Madrid's Terr
Tense, Mood and Aspect: Theoretical and Descriptive Issues. (Cahiers Chronos)
By Louis de Saussure, Jacques Moeschler, Genoveva Puskas
* Publisher:Rodopi
* Number Of Pages:248
* Publication Date:2007-07-16
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:9042022086
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9789042022089
Product Description:
This book is a collection of articles dealing with theoretical issues in the study of tense, mood and aspect, as well as with specific semantic and syntactic problems raised by linguistic expressions dedicated to these domains across a variety of languages. Through these papers, strong variations are explored, but also crosslinguistic convergences are investigated. Numerous phenomena so far often left aside in linguistics are described and enlightened by different scientific standpoints, which they serve to illustrate. The languages investigated in this volume include Germanic languages (Dutch, English, German), Romance (French, Catalan, Italian), Slavic (Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Russian), Greek, and non-indoeuropean languages such as Thai, Digo and Kikuyu. Related topics such as grammaticalization, presuppositions, questions in dialogue, illocutionary acts and acquisition are incidentally called upon in order to shed light from the outside onto tense, mood (and modality) and aspect. This volume is of great interest for all scholars engaged in contemporary research on the linguistic expression of tense, mood and aspect. The papers gathered in this volume are a tight selection of the ones that were presented at the 6th Chronos colloquium.
An Introduction to Narratology
By Monika Fludernik
* Publisher:Routledge
* Number Of Pages:190
* Publication Date:2009-04-06
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0415450292
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780415450294
Product Description:
An Introduction to Narratology is an accessible, practical guide to narratological theory and terminology and its application to literature.
The Function of Function Words And Functional Categories (Linguistik Aktuell / Linguistics Today)
By Marcel Den Dikken, Christina M. Tortora
* Publisher:John Benjamins Publishing Co
* Number Of Pages:292
* Publication Date:2005-09-30
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:9027228027
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9789027228024
Sociolinguistics of Narrative
By Joanna Thornborrow, J. Coates
* Publisher:John Benjamins Publishing Co
* Number Of Pages:300
* Publication Date:2005-05
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:9027226466
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9789027226464
Assessment of Language Disorders in Children
By Rebecca J. McCauley
* Publisher:Lawrence Erlbaum
* Number Of Pages:384
* Publication Date:2000-11-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0805825614
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780805825619
Product Description:
This book constitutes a clear, comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the basic principles of psychological and educational assessment that underlie effective clinical decisions about childhood language disorders. Rebecca McCauley describes specific commonly used tools, as well as general approaches ranging from traditional standardized norm-referenced testing to more recent ones, such as dynamic and qualitative assessment. Highlighting special considerations in testing and expected patterns of performance, she reviews the challenges presented by children with a variety of problems--specific language impairment, hearing loss, mental retardation, and autism spectrum disorders. Three extended case examples illustrate her discussion of each of these target groups. Her overarching theme is the crucial role of well-formed questions as fundamental guides to decision making, independent of approach.
Each chapter features lists of key concepts and terms, study questions, and recommended readings. Tables throughout offer succinct summaries and aids to memory.
Students, their instructors, and speech-language pathologists continuing their professional education will all welcome this invaluable new resource.
Distinctive features include:
* a comprehensive consideration of both psychometric and descriptive approaches to the characterization of children's language;
* a detailed discussion of background issues important in the language assessment of the major groups of children with language impairment;
* timely information on assessment of change--a topic frequently not covered in other texts;
* extensive guidance on how to evaluate individual norm-referenced measures for adoption;
* an extensive appendix listing about 50 measures used to assess language in children; and
* a test review guide that can be reproduced for use by readers.
Summary: Great review of statistics for tests!
Rating: 4
This is a marvelous review of statistics which a graduate student or professional needs to critically read and evaluate commercial tests. It is equally valuable in devising a test instrument.
New Horizons in the Study of Language and the Mind
By Noam Chomsky
* Publisher:Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages:230
* Publication Date:2000-05-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0521651476
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780521651479
Product Description:
This book is an outstanding contribution to the philosophical study of language and mind, by one of the most influential thinkers of our time. In a series of penetrating essays, Chomsky cuts through the confusion and prejudice that has infected the study of language and mind, bringing new solutions to traditional philosophical puzzles and fresh perspectives on issues of general interest, ranging from the mind-body problem to the unification of science. Using a range of imaginative and deceptively simple linguistic analyses, Chomsky defends the view that knowledge of language is internal to the human mind. He argues that a proper study of language must deal with this mental construct. According to Chomsky, therefore, human language is a "biological object" and should be analyzed using the methodology of the sciences. His examples and analyses come together in this book to give a unique and compelling perspective on language and the mind.
Summary: Poor Compilation
Rating: 2
This is a nativist argument... fine. But it's the same nativist argument said different ways. There was so much repeat in this book I feel that an easy third of it could have been omitted. Also, there's no introduction or abstract before each essential lecture, so you're forced to read the whole thing, not knowing where you can skip around. To top it all off, the book doesn't even try to mesh together the lectures to form some sort of general context or picture Chomsky is trying to make about language - what do these lectures lead to? In that sense, the reader not only try to comprehend what's being said, but also put together a puzzle - I felt like I was solving a mystery.
The book addresses a very broad debate in linguistics (how much is nature, how much is nurture?), but took very specific approaches to the solution. Which may be good. Surely, that means that the author is delving into exploration past the superficial. But, within these very specific explanations (some of which I have no expertise in) I felt that plays on words were being made to explain semantic idiosyncracies and things that are only odd to the paranoid schizophrenic. This isn't meticulous investigation, it's cherry-picking unique instances of curious happenstances. Chomsky's hypothesis has its cake and eats it, too, content enough to leave itself in a position where it can't be disproven. You can't prove it right, but you can't disprove it - another spaghetti monster instance (hopefully someone got that reference).
At least his discussion of tree-structures being epiphenomenal was good.
Summary: Linguistics a la Uri Geller
Rating: 1
I cannot repeat here my review of this book published in The Times Higher Education Supplement (7 Apr 2000, p.23)
First because it is too long (1500 words).
Second because The Times owns the copyright.
To cut 1500 words down to 50: the whole book rests on sleights of word (which I called "legerdemot"). Its absurdity becomes patent when the author argues that even such concepts as "carburetor" and "bureaucrat" must be innate (as a direct consequence of the "poverty of the stimulus").
Linguistics a la Uri Geller, cooked in Creationist sauce.
Summary: Required reading for philosophers
Rating: 4
There are a lot of fantastic ideas in the book, despite the fact that it has the appearance of being a purely negative work (arguments against philosophers rather than a constructive piece of its own). In order to get to the original and interesting points, one has to overlook many familiar flaws in Chomsky's philosophical writing: (1) Because he mostly publishes collections of papers, such as this volume, his philosophical work is overly repetitive. Often one wonders whether this book would be half as long if the repetitions were just editted out. (2) One gets the sense that Chomsky is quite uncharitable to his opponents in reconstructing their arguments. For instance, he emphasizes psychological behaviorism as the key component to Quinean naturalism, overlooking many of the similiarities between his own view of naturalism and Quine's view (minus behaviorism). Chomsky makes an important point that an analytic/synthetic distinction can be made quite sharp and clear empirically on linguistic grounds (it follows from the language instinct). Quine himself would not object that a clear analytic/synthetic distinction could be made on empirical grounds, he makes one himself in one of his essays. (3) Chomsky often does not build systematic arguments against some of the points that his opponents make. Often, he would simply integrate a brief quotation from his opponents into his writing, and say something like "Fair enough, but this doesn't answer question X" and then he moves on. Often, a careful reader would want to reconstruct what Chomsky means, and would probably want to work out the very argument that Chomsky himself omits.
In short, if one is able to read this book in a very different way from the manner in which Chomsky reads the works of his opponents, (i.e., charitably) and look past the repetitiveness, one will see that this book is full of insightful ideas. In fact, I think that it has the potential to redirect certain fields of research in philosophy. Scholars who are interested in issues of naturalism and normativity, not just in the cognitive sciences, but sciences in general, should read this work carefully. Needless to say, anyone interested in what the foundations for a naturalized philosophy of language could possibly be must read this book.
Summary: Chomsky the philosopher
Rating: 4
This is Chomsky defending his conception of the mind and of language from philosophical views which are incompatible with it. The Kripke/Putnam view that meanings are largely determined by reference is countered by Chomsky's view that it is usually people, not words, that refer. One uses the word "London" to refer to different things in different conversational contexts, sometimes an abstract thing, sometimes something concrete, etc., and so there is no single coherent thing, London itself, which can serve as the referent of "London." One can make similar points about "water" and "gold," which supposedly makes trouble for Kripke and Putnam. Many other topics are treated in defending Chomsky's internalism and nativism, such as Quine on analyticity (for Chomsky, there are analytic entailments and they are largely innately based). In fact, there is really too much here to treat in any satisfactory way in a brief review, but suffice it to add that one really intriguing thing about this book is that Chomsky is going beyond mere syntax and also considering the probability of an innate basis for semantics. If I have one complaint, it is that Chomsky sometimes treats topics too quickly and sometimes even a bit enigmatically leaving more work for the reader to figure out what he means. But this fault, if I am right in calling it that, is rare, and the book is definitely worth reading.