Forget the language instinct—this is the story of how we make up language as we go
Language is perhaps humanity’s most astonishing capacity—and one that remains poorly understood. In The Language Game, cognitive scientists Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater show us where generations of scientists seeking the rules of language got it wrong. Language isn’t about hardwired grammars but about near-total freedom, something like a game of charades, with the only requirement being a desire to understand and be understood. From this new vantage point, Christiansen and Chater find compelling solutions to major mysteries like the origins of languages and how language learning is possible, and to long-running debates such as whether having two words for “blue” changes what we see. In the end, they show that the only real constraint on communication is our imagination.
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Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. What is language? Why do we have it? Where does it come from? Why does that matter? The Language Game draws on a fascinating range of examples to show the way language works, has shaped our evolution and is critical to our future.'Marvellously clear. playfully persuasive' Richard Dawkins'Full of Fascinating details. A delight to read.' Tim Harford'Highly original and convincing . a delight to read!' - Daniel EverettWhat is language?Why do we have it?Why does that matter?Language is perhaps humanity's most astonishing accomplishment and one that remains poorly understood.Upending centuries of scholarship (including, most recently, Chomsky and Pinker) The Language Game shows how people learn to talk not by acquiring fixed meanings and rules, but by picking up, reusing, and recombining countless linguistic fragments in novel ways.Drawing on entertaining and persuasive examples from across the world the book explains-How our short-lived memory copes with the on-rushing deluge of sound that is everyday speech.Why it is that language is such a challenge for language scientists but learnt effortlessly by toddlers.Why the languages of the world are so spectacularly varied---and why no two people speak quite the same language.Why humans have language, but chimps don't.How language gave us a big brain and changed the course of evolution.How language doesn't limit, but does shape, how we think.And ultimately, why all we know about language should give us hope.Christiansen and Chater's The Language Game draws on a fascinating range of examples to show the way language works, has shaped our evolution and is critical to our future. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781804991008
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Paperback. Condition: New. 'Marvellously clear. playfully persuasive' Richard Dawkins'Full of Fascinating details. A delight to read.' Tim Harford'Highly original and convincing . a delight to read!' - Daniel EverettWhat is language?Why do we have it?Why does that matter?Language is perhaps humanity's most astonishing accomplishment and one that remains poorly understood.Upending centuries of scholarship (including, most recently, Chomsky and Pinker) The Language Game shows how people learn to talk not by acquiring fixed meanings and rules, but by picking up, reusing, and recombining countless linguistic fragments in novel ways.Drawing on entertaining and persuasive examples from across the world the book explains:· How our short-lived memory copes with the on-rushing deluge of sound that is everyday speech.· Why it is that language is such a challenge for language scientists but learnt effortlessly by toddlers.· Why the languages of the world are so spectacularly varied---and why no two people speak quite the same language.· Why humans have language, but chimps don't.· How language gave us a big brain and changed the course of evolution.· How language doesn't limit, but does shape, how we think.·And ultimately, why all we know about language should give us hope.Christiansen and Chater's The Language Game draws on a fascinating range of examples to show the way language works, has shaped our evolution and is critical to our future. Seller Inventory # LU-9781804991008
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