Ignorance of language
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Ignorance of language
Clarendon Press, 2006
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [277]-293) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Chomskian revolution in linguistics gave rise to a new orthodoxy about mind and language. Michael Devitt throws down a provocative challenge to that orthodoxy. What is linguistics about? What role should linguistic intuitions play in constructing grammars? What is innate about language? Is there a 'language faculty'? These questions are crucial to our developing understanding of ourselves; Michael Devitt offers refreshingly original answers. He argues that
linguistics is about linguistic reality and is not part of psychology; that linguistic rules are not represented in the mind; that speakers are largely ignorant of their language; that speakers' intuitions do not reflect information supplied by the language faculty and are not the main evidence for
grammars; that the rules of 'Universal Grammar' are largely, if not entirely, innate structure rules of thought; indeed, that there is little or nothing to the language faculty. Devitt's controversial theses will prove highly stimulating to anyone working on language and the mind.
Table of Contents
- I. LINGUISTICS IS NOT PSYCHOLOGY
- II. POSITIONS ON PSYCHOLOGICAL REALITY
- III. 'PHILOSOPHICAL' ARGUMENTS FOR THE REPRESENTATIONAL THESIS
- IV. THE RELATION OF LANGUAGE TO THOUGHT
- V. LANGUAGE USE AND ACQUISITION
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