Schools of linguistics: Competition and evolution

Sampson, Geoffrey

Hutchinson

283p white illustrated paperback, cover and edges a little dusty, text clean

Schools of linguistics: Competition and evolution (University Library)

Reference

Foreign Language Study & Reference

Making Sense

Oxford University Press

Liberty and Language

Words, Language & Grammar

Oxford Univ. Pr.

Computer processing of natural language is a burgeoning field, but until now there has been no agreement on a standardized classification of the diverse structural elements that occur in real-life language material. This book attempts to define a "Linnaean taxonomy" for the English language: an annotation scheme, the SUSANNE scheme, which yields a labelled constituency structure for any string of English, comprehensively identifying all of its surface and logical structural properties. The structure is specified with sufficient rigor that analysts working independently must produce identical annotations for a given example. The scheme is based on large sample of real-life use of British and American written and spoken English. The book also describes the SUSANNE electronic corpus of English which is annotated in accordance with the scheme. It is freely available as a research resource to anyone working at a computer connected to Internet, and since 1992 has come into widespread use in academic and commercial research environments on four continents.

English for the Computer: The SUSANNE Corpus and Analytic Scheme

Computers & Technology

Computer Science

Clarendon Press

This is a study which poses questions about the nature of human mental development - does it depend on instinctive structures of thought, or can humans produce new ideas not based on biologically-fixed themes? This book discusses arguments by Steven Pinker, Noam Chomsky and others, in order to support the latter view. Steven Pinker's book "The Language Instinct" maintains that language is heard-wired in our genes. Others argue that this also holds for much of the specific knowledge and understanding expressed in language. When the first human Eve evolved from pre-human apes (it is claimed), her biological inheritance comprised not just a distinctive anatomy, but a rich structure of cognition. Sampson finds that these arguments, some depending on earlier contributions by writers such as Noam Chomsky, rest on false premises, or embody a logical fallacy. His theory is that what mankind inherits genetically is not specific structures of language and understanding, but a very general ability to produce new ideas in response to an unpredictable environment. We are born knowing nothing, but able to learn anything.

Educating Eve: The 'Language Instinct' Debate

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Continuum Intl Pub Group

Are we creatures who learn new things? Or does human mental development consist of awakening structures of thought? A view has gained ground - advocated, for example, by Steven Pinker's book "The Language Instinct" - that language in much of its detail is "hard-wired" in our genes. Others add that this holds too for much of the specific knowledge and understanding expressed in language. When the first human evolved from apes (it is claimed), her biological inheritance comprised not just a distinctive anatomy but a rich structure of cognition. This book examines the various arguments for instinctive knowledge, with the author arguing that each one rests on false premises or embodies a logical fallacy. A different picture of learning is suggested by Karl Popper's account of knowledge growing through "conjectures and refutations". The facts of human language are best explained, Sampson contends, by taking language acquisition to be a case of Popperian learning. In this way, we are not born know-alls; we are born knowing nothing but able to learn anything and this is why we can find ways to think and talk about a world that goes on changing.

Educating Eve: The Language Instinct Debate

Politics & Social Sciences

Anthropology

UNKNO

Schools of Linguistics

Stanford University Press

Format Paperback Subject Language Arts Disciplines Linguistics Publisher Stanford University Press

Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Stanford Univ Pr

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