Current Studies in Linguistics Ser.: The Boundaries of Babel : The Brain and the Enigma of Impossible Languages by Andrea Moro and Samuel Jay Keyser (2010, Trade Paperback)
An exploration of what research at the intersection of contemporary theoretical linguistics and the cognitive neurosciences can reveal about the constraints on the apparently chaotic variation in human languages. In The Boundaries of Babel , Andrea Moro tells the story of an encounter between two cultures: contemporary theoretical linguistics and the cognitive neurosciences. The study of language within a biological context has been ongoing for more than fifty years. The development of neuroimaging technology offers new opportunities to enrich the biolinguistic perspective and extend it beyond an abstract framework for inquiry. As a leading theoretical linguist in the generative tradition and also a cognitive scientist schooled in the new imaging technology, Moro is uniquely equipped to explore this. Moro examines what he calls the hidden revolution in contemporary science: the discovery that the number of possible grammars is not infinite and that their number is biologically limited. This radical but little-discussed change in the way we look at language, he claims, will require us to rethink not just the fundamentals of linguistics and neurosciences but also our view of the human mind. Moro searches for neurobiological correlates of the boundaries of Babel--the constraints on the apparent chaotic variation in human languages--by using an original experimental design based on artificial languages. He offers a critical overview of some of the fundamental results from linguistics over the last fifty years, in particular regarding syntax, then uses these essential aspects of language to examine two neuroimaging experiments in which he took part. He describes the two neuroimaging techniques used (positron emission topography, or PET, and functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI), but makes it clear that techniques and machines do not provide interesting data without a sound theoretical framework. Finally, he discusses some speculative aspects of modern research in biolinguistics regarding the impact of the linear structure of linguistics expression on grammar, and more generally, some core aspects of language acquisition, genetics, and evolution.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
MIT Press
ISBN-10
0262515067
ISBN-13
9780262515061
eBay Product ID (ePID)
84484559
Product Key Features
Author
Andrea Moro, Samuel Jay Keyser
Publication Name
Boundaries of Babel : the Brain and the Enigma of Impossible Languages
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Series
Current Studies in Linguistics Ser.
Publication Year
2010
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
280 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
9in
Item Height
0.5in
Item Width
6in
Item Weight
13.3 Oz
Additional Product Features
Age Range
18
Series Volume Number
46
Lc Classification Number
P132.M6713 2010
Grade from
College Graduate Student
Reviews
"In this engaging, informative, and provocative book, a leading theoretical linguist shows why so many of us are so excited about the 'biolinguistic revolution.' Neuroscientists can discover some of the central ideas of current Chomskian linguistics; linguists can learn some of the core concepts of neuroscience; and anyone interested can see how the two fields are beginning to come together." -Howard B. Lasnik, Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland
Copyright Date
2008
Target Audience
Scholarly & Professional
Topic
Mind & Body, Linguistics / General
Lccn
2015-037753
Dewey Decimal
401
Dewey Edition
23
Illustrated
Yes
Genre
Language Arts & Disciplines, Philosophy
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