How can an infinite number of sentences be generated from one human mind? How did language evolve in apes? In this book Donald Loritz addresses these and other fundamental and vexing questions about language, cognition, and the human brain. He starts by tracing how evolution and natural adaptation selected certain features of the brain to perform communication functions, then shows how those features developed into designs for human language. The result -- what Loritz calls an adaptive grammar -- gives a unified explanation of language in the brain and contradicts directly (and controversially) the theory of innateness proposed by, among others, Chomsky and Pinker.
Reviews
Easy and pleasant to read * Stephanie Clarke, European Neurology, 2001 *
Controversial, anti-establishment, readably swift, often funny, sometimes charming, and interdisciplinary in an area where there is a lot of earnest but still rudimentary bridge building going on. * Lise Menn, Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado *
I find the author's scholarship sound and intriguing ... this unusual and integrative approach makes a contribution. * Theresa Hernandez, Psychology, University of Colorado *



Book Information
ISBN 9780195151244
Author Donald Loritz
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 152mm * 234mm * 15mm