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The Language instinct

Front Cover
79 Reviews
HarperCollins Canada, Limited, 1994 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 494 pages
In this classic, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published.

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Another interesting set of insights by Mr Pinker. - Goodreads
The theory and research examples held up. - Goodreads
Interesting premise well defended but enuff awreddy. - Goodreads
It evolved by natural selection. - Goodreads
... and to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition. - Goodreads

Review: The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language

User Review  - Paul - Goodreads

For anyone interested in reading an introduction to linguistics, especially Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar, this is definitely a must-read. Read full review

Review: The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language

User Review  - Megan Henrich - Goodreads

I was attracted to this book for all of the obvious reasons: it's about language and I love to write. Usually I don't go in for non-fiction, but here's the thing: this book taught me so much. I didn't ... Read full review

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About the author (1994)

Steven Pinker is an authority on language and the mind. He is Peter de Florez professor of psychology in the department of brain and cognitive sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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