Pinker Summary #5

In this recap I will discuss chapter 4 How Language Works. In this chapter Pinker spoke about a few concepts that were also discussed in Yule’s book, “The Study of Language”. First, he mentioned how language can be generated and builds upon its own to create the vast amount of language that it is today. The first rule he spoke about was the arbitrariness of words. For instance, the word “dog” doesn’t look the physical form of a dog. Another example, would be describing a vacation to a friend.

This arbitrariness allows us to convey complex physical forms and transfer them into bite-sized mental shapes that allow us to carry ideas and thoughts in a short amount of time. The second rule is the generative grammar. What Pinker means when he writes about generative grammar is some of the law structures, specifically in the English language can help generate language. He also uses this rule to support his theory of the language instinct. The Generative Grammar was established by a Swedish social scientist; Wilhem Von Humboldt that language makes infinite use of infinite media. The Generative Grammar is similar to what a code is for a lagaugage. The Generative Grammar is the code that translates between orders of words and combination of thoughts.

Pinker investigates the “discrete combination system” of language and the meaning of the words in a sentence and what are the super-rules in arranging these words. What interested me about language as being a discrete combinational system is the vastness of language that can be produced. For example, going into a library and picking a sentence at random and the chances of finding that same sentence somewhere else is impossible. This is also similar to a theory Chomsky proclaims that we have built-in software that allows us to interpret billions of new sentences or phrases each time.

Some similar topics mentioned in this chapter that was also discussed in Yule’s “The Study of Language” are the autonomous from cognition. This means that even though a sentence is written perfectly grammatically, it can still not make sense. For instance, the sentence “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously”. This proves that ungrammaticality is simply a consequence of our having a fixed software or code for interpreting sentences and its meaning.

I enjoyed reading Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct. It was a great introduction to linguistics. I am interested in reading more about Noam Chomsky’s Universal Grammar theory and also Michael Thomsello’s Gestures as the Origin of Language.