I-Language An Introduction to Linguistics as Cognitive Science

by Isac, Daniela; Reiss, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780199534203
• ISBN10: 0199534209
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-24
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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 programmeinspired and led by Noam Chomsky shows how the focus of theory and research in linguistics shifted from treating language as a disembodied, human-external entity to cognitive biolinguistics - the study of language as a human cognitive system embedded within the mind/brain of each individual. Therecurring theme of equivalence classes in linguistic computation ties together the presentation of material from phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The same theme is used to help students understand the place of linguistics in the broader context of the cognitive sciences, by drawing onexamples from vision, audition, and even animal cognition.This textbook is unique in its integration of empirical issues of linguistic analysis, engagement with philosophical questions that arise in the study of language, and treatment of the history of the field. Topics ranging from allophony to reduplication, ergativity, and negative polarity are invokedto show the implications of findings in cognitive biolinguistics for philosophical issues like reference, the mind-body problem, and nature-nurture debates.This textbook contains numerous exercises and guides for further reading as well as ideas for student projects. A companion website with guidance for instructors and answers to the exercises features a series of pdf slide presentations to accompany the teaching of each topic.

Author Biography

Daniela Isac is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Concordia University. She has taught at the University of Bucharest and held research fellowships at the universities of Oxford and Quebec. Her published work includes articles in Revue Roumaine de Linguistique and Linguistic Inquiry.
Charles Reiss is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Concordia University, Montreal, co-editor with Gillian Ramchand of The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Interfaces (OUP 2007), and co-author with Mark Hale of The Phonological Enterprise (OUP 2008).

Table of Contents

The Object of Inquiry

The Object of Inquiry

I-Everything: Triangles, Streams, Words

Approaches to the Study of Languaeg

I-/E-/P-Language

Linguistic Representation and Computation

A Syntactic Theory That Won't Work

Abstract Representations

Some Details of Sentence Structure

Binding

Ergativity

Universal Grammar

Approaches to UG: Empirical Evidence

Approaches to UG: Logic

Implications and Conclusions

Social Implications

Some Philosophy

Open Questions and Closing Remarks

References

Index

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