Ignorance of Language

By Michael Devitt

Book Overview

The Chomskian revolution in linguistics gave rise to a new orthodoxy about mind and language. Michael Devitt throws down a provocative challenge to that orthodoxy. What is linguistics about? What role should linguistic intuitions play in constructing grammars? What is innate about language? Is there a "language faculty?" These questions are crucial to our developing understanding of ourselves; Michael Devitt offers refreshingly original answers. He argues that linguistics is about linguistic reality and is not part of psychology; that linguistic rules are not represented in the mind; that speakers are largely ignorant of their language; that speakers' intuitions do not reflect information supplied by the language faculty and are not the main evidence for grammars; that the rules of "Universal Grammar" are largely, if not entirely, innate structure rules of thought; indeed, that there is little or nothing to the language faculty. Devitt's controversial theses will prove highly stimulating to anyone working on language and the mind

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199250979
• ISBN13: 9780199250974
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"