Books by Subject
Books by Subject
Language Development
Book
Description
A fascinating investigation into the relationship between genes,
language, race, and culture.
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza was
among the first to ask whether the genes of modern populations contain a
historical record of the human species. Cavalli-Sforza and others have answered
this question-anticipated by Darwin-with a decisive yes. Genes, Peoples, and
Languages is a summation of the author's work over several decades, the goal of
which has been nothing less than tracking the past 100,000 years of human
evolution. Cavalli-Sforza raises questions that have serious political, social,
and scientific import: When and where did we evolve? How have human societies
spread across the continents? How have cultural innovations affected the growth
and spread of populations? What is the connection between genes and languages?
Always provocative and often astonishing, Cavalli-Sforza explains why there is
no genetic basis for racial classification and proposes that a comparison of
blood types is a far better means of determining "genetic distance"
and explaining linguistic and cultural differences. A panoramic tour of the
major discoveries in genetic anthropology, Genes, Peoples, and Languages gives
us a rare firsthand account of some of the most significant scientific work of
recent years. Enthralling, profound, and lively, this is popular science writing
at its best.
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Tower of Babel : The Evidence Against
the New Creationism
by Robert T. Pennock
Hardcover - 440 pages
(March 1999)
MIT Press; ISBN: 026216180X ;
Dimensions (in inches): 1.36 x 9.22 x 6.33
Reviews
Amazon.com
The face of creationism has been through some major plastic surgery in the
past decade or so. The leading proponents of "intelligent design theory" have
left the ranting flat-earth types behind and found respected positions in the academic
world from which to launch attacks on mainstream science. Philosopher of science Robert T.
Pennock has explored all sides of the ongoing debate, which remains (despite the
protestations of many creationists) more about biblical ignorance than scientific
evidence. His book Tower of Babel examines the new directions antievolutionist have
taken lately, but goes beyond a mere recounting of recent history by proposing a new
avenue of counterattack: linguistics.
The parallels are striking once we look closely: Genesis proclaims that God created all human languages at one stroke, while modern scientific thought proposes linguistic evolution similar in form to genetics. Best of all for scientists, though, linguistic change is much more rapid than biological change, and we have actually observed what might be called "speciation events" to have occurred historically in languages. While not meant to supplant traditional arguments against creationism, Pennock's ideas certainly supplement them and will be useful to educators and researchers alike. His sense of urgency is compelling; he sees the future of scientific education and freedom at stake and argues strongly for a separation between private beliefs and public knowledge. --Rob Lightner
Creationism is no longer the simple notion it once was taken to be. Its new advocates have become more sophisticated in how they present their views, speaking of "intelligent design" rather than "creation science" and aiming their arguments against the naturalistic philosophical method that underlies science, proposing to replace it with a "theistic science." The creationism-evolution controversy is not just about the status of Darwinian evolution - it is a clash of religious and philosophical worldviews, for a common underlying fear among creationists is that evolution undermines both the basis of morality as they understand it and the possibility of purpose in life. In Tower of Babel, philosopher Robert T. Pennock compares the views of the new creationists with those of the old and reveals the insubstantiality of their arguments. One of Pennock's major innovations is to turn from biological evolution to the less-charged subject of linguistic evolution, which has strong theoretical parallels with biological evolution both in content and in the sort of evidence scientists use to draw conclusions about origins.
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Apes, Language, and the Human MindHardcover - 288 pages (June 1998)
Oxford Univ Press; ISBN: 0195109864
; Dimensions (in inches): 0.80 x 9.56 x 6.36
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The Symbolic Species : The Co-Evolution of Language and the BrainWhat separates humans from animals, Deacon writes, is our capacity for symbolic representation. Animals can easily learn to link a sound with an object or an effect with a cause. But symbolic thinking assumes the ability to associate things that might only rarely have a physical correlation; think of the word "unicorn," for instance, or the idea of the future. Language is only the outward expression of this symbolic ability, which lays the foundation for everything from human laughter to our compulsive search for meaning.
The final section of The Symbolic Species posits that human brains and human language have coevolved over millions of years, leading Deacon to the remarkable conclusion that many modern human traits were actually caused by ideas. Deacon's background in biological anthropology and neuroscience makes him a reliable companion through this complicated multidisciplinary turf. Rigorously researched and argued in dense but lively prose, The Symbolic Species is that rare animal, a book of serious science that's accessible to layman and scientist alike. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Talk and Social Structure : Studies in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
Hardcover (December 1991)
Univ California Press; ISBN: 0520075064
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Book Description
Talk is at the heart of everyday existence, yet social scientists have traditionally
treated it as peripheral to human affairs and social structure. This collection
of original essays offers a new and different perspective that sees talk as
the fundamental framework of social interaction and social institutions.
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Everyday Conversation
by Robert E. Nofsinger
Paperback - 180 pages (August
20, 1999)
Waveland Press; ISBN: 157766079X
Other Editions:
Hardcover
Book
Description
Everyday Conversation fills a specific niche. It introduces in a readable
way major concepts for understanding conversationas viewed from the perspective
of conversation analysis and, to a lesser extent, speech act theory. Readers
benefit from having access to technical concepts otherwise beyond their reach;
others will benefit from having a manageable entry point from which to investigate
these concepts further. Outstanding features include: illustrates primary discussions
by segments of real-life talk; describes conversation predominantly from one
perspective--conversation analysis; and offers specific details of conversation
patterning in the data segments and the accompanying point-by-point discussions.
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Harvey Sacks : Social
Science and Conversation Analysis
by David Silverman
Paperback (September 1998)
Oxford Univ Press; ISBN: 0195214730
Other Editions Hardcover
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The Emergence of the Speech CapacityPaperback (January
2000)
Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc; ISBN:
0805826297
Other Editions: Hardcover
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Approaches to the Evolution of Language : Social and Cognitive BasesClick here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com