Language in Cognition: Uncovering Mental Structures and the Rules Behind Them - Softcover

Boeckx, Cedric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405158824 ISBN 13: 9781405158824

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009

Synopsis

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

About this title

About the Author

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 Autonoma 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.

From the Back Cover

"Brings together the right topics, some right at the edge or even at the horizons of research..."
Noam Chomsky

"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. It is an argument that every serious student of the mind sciences should know, even if they don't join the choir."
Marc Hauser, Harved University

"if Linguistics is the queen of the cognitive sciences, then Cedric Boeckx is her official court biograper. 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

"Boeckx provides a wonderful, modren 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. It is a superb introduction to the fundamental role of generative thought in modern cognitive science, weaving together psychological, biological, and philosophical perspectives, while acknowledging that fundamental aspects of human nature remain mysterious."
Torn Roeper, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The study of human language as a biological object is in many respects a perfect instrument for understanding cognitive science. As linguistics becomes increasingly integrated in the cognitive sciences, we need answers to such questions as: 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? Language in Cognition guides undergraduate students through these key questions.

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.

From the Inside Flap

"Brings together the right topics, some right at the edge or even at the horizons of research..."
Noam Chomsky

"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. It is an argument that every serious student of the mind sciences should know, even if they don't join the choir."
Marc Hauser, Harved University

"if Linguistics is the queen of the cognitive sciences, then Cedric Boeckx is her official court biograper. 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

"Boeckx provides a wonderful, modren 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. It is a superb introduction to the fundamental role of generative thought in modern cognitive science, weaving together psychological, biological, and philosophical perspectives, while acknowledging that fundamental aspects of human nature remain mysterious."
Torn Roeper, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The study of human language as a biological object is in many respects a perfect instrument for understanding cognitive science. As linguistics becomes increasingly integrated in the cognitive sciences, we need answers to such questions as: 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? Language in Cognition guides undergraduate students through these key questions.

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1405158824
• ISBN 13: 9781405158824
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264