Words and Rules : The Ingredients of Language

Answers a wide range of questions about how language works & is learned; why languages change over time & have so many quirks & irregularities; & where in the brain language resides. Explains the profound mysteries of language by focusing on a single phenomenon -- regular & irregular verbs -- which connects an astonishing array of topics in the sciences & humanities: the history of languages; the illuminating errors of children as they begin to speak; the nature of human concepts; the peculiarities of the English language; major ideas in the history of Western philosophy; techniques in identifying genes; & imaging the living brain. Offers insight into the very nature of the human mind. Illus.Pinker, Steven is the author of 'Words and Rules : The Ingredients of Language', published 2002 under ISBN 9780756756116 and ISBN 0756756111.