Language in Cognition

This textbook explores the ways in which language informs the
structure and function of the human mind, offering a point of
entry into the fascinating territory of cognitive science. Focusing
mainly on syntactic issues, Language in Cognition is a
unique contribution to this burgeoning field of study.

• 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

Auteur
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.

Résumé
This textbook explores the ways in which language informs the structure and function of the human mind, offering a point of entry into the fascinating territory of cognitive science. Focusing mainly on syntactic issues, Language in Cognition is a unique contribution to this burgeoning field of study.

• 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

Contenu

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