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  • The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker book cover
  • The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker book cover
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The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language

by Steven Pinker

Language as a human capacity

Critically Recognized
$18.74 USD
$31.24 USD $18.74 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    William James Book Prize recipient

    The source says the book received the William James Book Prize.

  • Critical praise

    Praise from The New York Times Book Review

    Attributed praise describes the book as brilliant, witty, and altogether satisfying.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Language as a human capacity

Steven Pinker surveys language through several connected questions: how it works, how children acquire it, how it changes, how the brain processes it, and how it evolved. The book develops the argument that language is an instinct shaped by evolution, drawing on examples of humor and wordplay to explore that idea. This edition also includes an update on advances in the science of language since the book’s original publication, giving its account a broader scope than language acquisition alone.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in linguistics and psycholinguistics.
  • Readers curious about language learning, change, the brain, and evolution.
  • Readers seeking an accessible discussion of language that uses examples of humor and wordplay.

Themes

Language acquisitionLanguage and the brainLanguage changeEvolution of languageLanguage as an instinct

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"A brilliant, witty, and altogether satisfying book." -- New York Times Book Review

The classic work on the development of human language by the world's leading expert on language and the mind

In The Language Instinct, 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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Customer reviews

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I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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