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Introduction to Linguistics?

  Tags: Linguistics
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32 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3
Retinend
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 Message 25 of 32
07 October 2013 at 7:42pm | IP Logged 
I just found this on the Chomsky website which might be appropriate as an introduction
or perhaps more likely something to read after reading Pinker's book, in order to get a
taste of the controversies within in the field which Pinker's book fails to mention:

http://norvig.com/chomsky.html

It details exactly what the arguments against statistical models are from the innatist
view. "people don't decide what the third word of a sentence should be by consulting a
probability table keyed on the previous two words, rather they map from an internal
form ... into words."

Edit:

Juаn wrote:
The article itself is a fabulous read and the subject matter fascinating,
however reading such a long text off an electronic screen is torture and I wasn't able
to get far. What is the best treatment of the subject in proper printed book form? I've
read The Language Instinct and while worthwhile, it is certainly not it.


In that case, what subject matter?

Edited by Retinend on 07 October 2013 at 7:47pm

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Juаn
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 Message 26 of 32
07 October 2013 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
Retinend wrote:
In that case, what subject matter?


Chomskian linguistics.
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Elexi
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 Message 27 of 32
08 October 2013 at 10:01am | IP Logged 
Juan - you are right - much of linguistics is tangential to what we do here - although
second language acquisition (SLA) is a field in its own right within the discipline.

The linguistics faculty at Sheffield University (of which I have no affiliation) has a
good website that provides basic information on the various fields of study in modern
linguistics, which some basic introduction to the debates.

http://allaboutlinguistics.com/

The most connected area to what we discuss here is (obviously) the language acquisition
drop-down menu.
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Retinend
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 Message 28 of 32
08 October 2013 at 5:44pm | IP Logged 
Juаn wrote:
Retinend wrote:
In that case, what subject matter?


Chomskian linguistics.


Well... I agree, having read it now, that the Searle article is very good exposition
for a general audience, and despite being written in the early 70s (and making some
predicitions which didn't transpire) it's still on the mark and informative, especially
on the philosophical context of Chomsky's ideas. That said, I don't think that the
article is as enjoyable or detailed as Pinker's book as an introduction.

If you're wanting to go further, there's an excellent collection of interviews with the
man himself called The Science of Language: Interviews with James McGilvray.
McGilvray is a philosopher though also very knowledgable about biology. There talks
are quite informal but there is a lot of detail there without jargon. There's also a
lot of interesting digressions onto political topics, where again the interviewer asks
perceptive questions.

If you have access to a university library, then see what sort of books authored by
Chomsky they have. He has written books (usually published lectures) which discuss
linguistics for a general audience, though in these books, such as Reflections on
Language
and Language and Freedom, I'd very much wonder if anyone could
understand them being read out in the real time. Despite their easy-going tone I had to
spend a lot of time with certain passages. Regardless, this is probably preferable to
the textbooks.

That said, if you want textbooks, I didn't get very deep with Syntax, but I can
reccommend my first year textbooks. The first I had was Syntax: A Generative
Introduction
by Andrew Carnie, which explains the language of constituency trees in
all flavours, and the other was Core Syntax by David Adger which focuses on the
most up to date, Chomsky-approved model, known as the "Minimalist Program" because of
its presumption of fewer simples than the previous models.

Lastly, I should just say that "Chomskian" anything is just a shorthand, though I'm
wary of using it because it immediately conjours to mind such insinuating adjectives as
"Freudian" or "Darwinian." The field is more than the one man's making. That said,
Chomsky is and has been by far the most vocal proponent of his theories, and he's been
consistently a rather fearsome one, so he's naturally looked up to by people who agree
with him and is seen as a coercive ringleader by people who disagree.

Edited by Retinend on 08 October 2013 at 5:49pm

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Juаn
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 Message 29 of 32
08 October 2013 at 6:08pm | IP Logged 
Those textbooks look very interesting and I'll definitely take a look at them. Thank you for the recommendation. I'll also research Chomsky's own works, though I'll be careful to avoid those which discuss anything other than linguistics as I find his politics thoroughly nauseating.
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darkwhispersdal
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 Message 30 of 32
08 October 2013 at 10:02pm | IP Logged 
The Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics seems to provide a good range of linguistic research. Just finished Indo-European Language and Culture- Benjamin W Fortson IV which was a fascinating read. I've started ML West's Indo-European Poetry and Myth which is very interesting.

Another set of books I like is the Routledge Language Family Series but these are really heavy going with alot of detail and little explanation.
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newyorkeric
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 Message 31 of 32
09 October 2013 at 3:07am | IP Logged 
Let's try and keep politics out of the discussion.
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viedums
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 Message 32 of 32
17 October 2013 at 4:05am | IP Logged 
Retinend wrote:


If you're wanting to go further, there's an excellent collection of interviews with the
man himself called The Science of Language: Interviews with James McGilvray.
McGilvray is a philosopher though also very knowledgable about biology. There talks
are quite informal but there is a lot of detail there without jargon. There's also a
lot of interesting digressions onto political topics, where again the interviewer asks
perceptive questions.



I recently read a review of this book by Geoffrey Pullum, who some may know from his grammar of English or from Language Log. It begins as follows: "This isn't a book by Noam Chomsky, it isn't really composed of interviews, and it contains no 'science of language'." And ends: "Presumably the guaranteed sales from having Chomsky's name on the cover are too tempting to resist. Buyers should beware."

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/419565.article


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