The Language Organ Linguistics as Cognitive Physiology [Hardcover]

This book discusses the biological basis for a person's use of language.Challenging and original, The Language Organ treats human language as the manifestation of a faculty of the mind, a mental organ whose nature is determined by human biology and whose functional properties should be explored just as physiology explores the functional properties of physical organs. The book surveys the nature of the language fac ulty in its various aspects: the systems of sounds, words, and syntax, the development of language in the child and historically, and what is known about its relation to the brain.Challenging and original, The Language Organ treats human language as the manifestation of a faculty of the mind, a mental organ whose nature is determined by human biology and whose functional properties should be explored just as physiology explores the functional properties of physical organs. The book surveys the nature of the language fac ulty in its various aspects: the systems of sounds, words, and syntax, the development of language in the child and historically, and what is known about its relation to the brain.This study treats human language as the manifestation of a faculty of the mind, which is seen as a mental organ whose nature is determined by human biology and whose functional properties should be explored as physiology explores the functional properties of physical organs. The book surveys the nature of the language faculty in its various aspects: the systems of sounds, words, and syntax, the development of language in the child and historically, what is known about its relation to the brain.Introduction; 1. Studying the human language faculty; 2. Language as a mental organ; 3. Syntax; 4. Sound patterns to language; 5. Describing linguistic knowledge; 6. Phonetics and the I-linguistics of speech; 7. Morphology; 8. Language change; 9. 'Growing' a language; 10. The organic basis of language. A superb overview of the logic of language and its basis in the human minl£"