"language as a window into human nature'. -


	"language as a window into human nature'. -

einbar

6-18-2008 12:32 PM

478 views

einbar says:

"language is an instinct, an evolutionary adaptation that is partly hardwired into our brains and partly learned"..Steven Pinker un his new book

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6-18-2008 1:22 PM

Socratoad

Much food for thought here.

6-19-2008 9:56 AM

syncopath

A language presupposes that all the individual users possess the organs.
Ferdinand de Saussure

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/1979a7f5-df7c-479b-b464-3ff040d434f1/CF805FEF-69B7-4452-8B09-2D64895B1C65/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview" href="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview" style="font-size: 11px;">discovermagazine.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview"><H3>The rules of language may reveal how our brains really work. </H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/discovermagazine.com/img/EBDFD590-5027-421C-8AE0-E7EB1F82B048" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview">Steven Pinker </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview"> a linguistics explorer, hunting around the sentences and syntax of human 
language for clues </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview">to the inner world of the human brain</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview">how they are used in sentences, </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview">Why so much attention to verbs?</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview">part it’s simply because he finds them fascinating.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview"><A href="http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/" target=_blank>Pinker</A> has been a 
driving force in linguistics theory, analyzing language in labs at MIT, Stanford 
University</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview">testing to what extent language is biologically programmed. His research 
suggests that language is an instinct, an evolutionary adaptation that is partly 
hardwired into our brains and partly learned</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview"> This work led Pinker to develop his theory of the evolution of the mind and the 
source of language</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview">the brain at birth is not simply a blank slate to be shaped by culture and 
experience. Rather, it comes programmed with many behavioral dispositions and 
talents</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/the-discover-interview">human nature is to some extent innate and shaped by natural selection</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/CF805FEF-69B7-4452-8B09-2D64895B1C65/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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