1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812502103321

Autore

Isac Daniela

Titolo

I-language : an introduction to linguistics as cognitive science / / Daniela Isac and Charles Reiss

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford, [England] : , : Oxford University Press, , 2008

2008

ISBN

0-19-153861-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (333 p.)

Collana

Oxford Linguistics

Oxford Core Linguistics

Disciplina

410

Soggetti

Linguistics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of Figures; PART I: The Object of Inquiry; 1 What is I-language?; 1.1 Jumping in; 1.2 Equivalence classes; 1.3 Partial reduplication in Samoan; 1.4 Mentalism; 1.5 I-language; 1.6 Some implications of mentalism; 1.7 Summing up; 1.8 Exercises; 2 I-everything: Triangles, streams, words; 2.1 A triangle built by the mind; 2.2 More visual construction; 2.3 Auditory scene analysis; 2.4 Words are built by the mind; 2.5 Summing up; 2.6 Exercises; 3 Approaches to the study of language; 3.1 Commonsense views of "language"; 3.2 I-language

3.3 The kind of stuff we look at3.4 Methodological dualism; 3.5 Biolinguistics; 3.6 And so?; 3.7 Exercises; 4 I-/E-/P-Language; 4.1 Computation in phonology; 4.2 Extensional equivalence; 4.3 Non-internalist approaches; 4.4 How is communication possible?; 4.5 Exercises; PART II: Linguistic Representation and Computation; 5 A syntactic theory that won't work; 5.1 General requirements on grammars; 5.2 Finite state languages; 5.3 Discussion; 5.4 Power of grammars; 5.5 Exercises; 6 Abstract representations; 6.1 Abstractness; 6.2 Abstractness of sentence structure; 6.3 Allophony

6.4 Turkish vowel harmony6.5 Words are not derived from words; 6.6 Think negative; 6.7 Summing up; 6.8 Exercises; 7 Some details of sentence structure; 7.1 Basic syntactic categories; 7.2 Syntactic constituents; 7.3 Labels and phrasal categories; 7.4 Predicting syntactic



patterns; 7.5 Using trees to predict reaction times; 7.6 To sum up; 7.7 Exercises; 8 Binding; 8.1 Preliminaries; 8.2 Anaphors; 8.3 Pronouns and "referential expressions"; 8.4 Some implications; 8.5 Binding and wh-movement; 8.6 Non-structural factors in interpretation; 8.7 Exercises; 9 Ergativity; 9.1 Preliminaries

9.2 A nominative-accusative system9.3 An ergative-absolutive system; 9.4 A tense-split system; 9.5 A nominal-verbal mismatch; 9.6 A NP-split system; 9.7 Language, thought and culture; 9.8 Exercises; PART III: Universal Grammar; 10 Approaches to UG: Empirical evidence; 10.1 On the plausibility of innate knowledge; 10.2 More negative thoughts; 10.3 Exercises; 11 Approaches to UG: Logic; 11.1 Let's play cards; 11.2 Where does this leave us?; 11.3 Building blocks in other domains; 11.4 Exercises; PART IV: Implications and Conclusions; 12 Social implications

12.1 Prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar12.2 Negation; 12.3 Change is constant; 12.4 Exercises; 13 Some philosophy; 13.1 Rationalism and empiricism; 13.2 Competence and performance; 13.3 Reference; 13.4 Essentialism; 13.5 Mind and body; 13.6 A view from neuroscience; 13.7 Exercises; 14 Open questions and closing remarks; 14.1 You and your grammar; 14.2 Retracing the links among key -isms; 14.3 Bearing on philosophical questions; References; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W

Sommario/riassunto

The book introduces the major branches of theoretical linguistics - phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics - in the context of cognitive science, with reference to fields such as vision, auditory perception and philosophy of mind. - ;I-Language introduces the uninitiated to linguistics as cognitive science. In an engaging, down-to-earth style Daniela Isac and Charles Reiss give a crystal-clear demonstration of the application of the scientific method in linguistic theory. Their presentation of the research programme inspired and led by Noam Chomsky shows how the focus of theory and research