Title: Words and Rules. The ingredients of Language.
Author: Steven Pinker
Category: Expository – Science
What is the book about as a whole?
The book is a an expository work about the nature and function of language being the parts Words, arbitrarily memorized pairings of sounds/symbols with meaning, and Rules being the code that allow us to arrange the first ones in a meaningful way.
What is being said in detail, and how?
After an utmost brief introduction where he talks about the central core of the book, an study on regular and irregular verbs, the book is divided in ten chapters where he explore the nature and beauty of language. Actually as an entree he advise us not to be fooled with the apparent tediousness of the topic but instead to be in wonder about what this little pieces of the great system of language can tell us about our mind and our evolution as human being.
In chapter 1 he introduces to the terms Words and Rules. The first being memorized arbitrary pairing between a sound and a meaning. Rules then being a code or protocol that we apply so we can arrange words in meaningful combinations. We are introduced more in depth to the concept of regular verbs, those that come from a predictable rule-forming mechanism in the mind and irregular verbs that are more like words in the sense that might have to be reminded as independent words. Then in chapter 2 he continues talking about verbs how regular verbs have a systematic way to be devised while the irregulars need to be memorized. He also talks about some quirks on the evolution and history of language. For me was really enjoyable to read about the history, or rather, the story of some English words. It made me realize how beautiful languages are.
The next chapter is called Broken Telephone and is about irregular verbs and how they evolved during times. The key point in this chapter is the idea of evolution through time and given the usage that we give to the words on time. It is also involved the idea of efficiency and economy in the shifting of those words for easier ones to pronounce than the regular rule might produce. For me this was lovely from the stand point of an inner economist. The following chapter is called In Single Combat, here he remind us again that regular forms are generated by rules and Irregular forms are memorized by rote. This is Pinker’s theory, that he call the “Ingredients of Language”. This seems to be to be a conciliation of the Chomsky and Halle theory where the words are learn just by association not actually by rules implicit in the brain. For them the rules are a kind of illusion. On the other hand we have Rumelhart & Macleland theory that both regular and irregular verbs are generated by a battery of rules. Then for Pinker is a blend of the two and he even thinks that the functions are located in different parts of the brain.
In Word Nerds he is concerned on how words and rules pop into mind as we use language in present time. It is quite amazing how we are so good at making the choosing of words and forms in real time. He talks about the talking principle and how we block the regular form to imprint the irregular one. He also talks about the Lexical decision that is our ability to discriminate between chunks of letters or sounds that might or might not be words in our language or other language. In chapter Six, Of mice and men, Pinker talks about the necessity of both worlds and rules. Words are stored in form of roots and rules are stored not just a mere association system but as a combinatory system that allows our brain to see the best way to fit the parts and properties to convey a meaningful and contextual response. Of this chapter I really liked the notion of having a mental dictionary in our minds that allow us to give a tangible meaning to our world. The next chapter Kids Says the Darnedest Things Pinker examines the wonderful language of kids. When humans are really young we tend to be very good at overgeneralizing rules since we have not the experience enough to apply the cases by memory. Since the irregular forms are so unpredictable the only way we can accurately use them is by living longer and have more experience with the language that require the irregular forms. But we have to see that the process is like an “U” first you learn some words by rote memory and afterwards you learn the rules, but you overgeneralize, then you start learning it again the words by memory. Those words are the irregular verbs.
In the Horrors of German Language, Pinker uses that particularly difficult to learn language to describe how particular rules apply in different languages. Interesting for me in this chapter is the idea that no one is biologically predisposed to speak certain language. This reminds of a conversation in my family whether American kids were born ready to speak English or not. So the answer is not, and we can learn any language during our life. Then in chapter 9 Pinker goes into the realm of neuroscience. The chapter describes the way our brain is divided and how it relates to each function of language. In the final Chapter, A digital mind in an analog world, he states again the duo of Words and Rules and how each represent two different systems in our mind. First we have the Words system that is Memory one that stores and retrieves the words in an arbitrary form and along with that a Combinatorial System composed by rules that allow us to do automatic computations when faced with a language need to get a proper combination of the roots we stored and deliver a meaningful product.
What are the author’s questions and problems?
For me the problem Steven Pinker is dealing in this book is to present his theory of language to an educated layman, giving contextual references to increase the understanding of his theory.
What of it?
This relatively small book is one of my favorites of the semester. As any book written by Steven Pinker is really enjoyable to read even though sometimes might get technical in the language used the way he convey words is particularly rewarding for an attentive reader. For me was particularly great the way he could condense in an educated but yet layman language a long debate about the nature of language and although not explicitly the nature of human mind as well. This small book should be a must for anyone interested in understanding how our brain and mind works. Without doubts is a book worth reading if you are interested in learn more about the mind. So don’t be fooled, yes you will learn a lot about language, but if seen in a greater context you might also can learn a lot of other topics. As final words for this book I might say that although it was not an easy book to read the effort was compensated and I discovered I enjoyed to know about the amazing (biological, evolutionary, mental, social and mainly human) phenomena that we call language.
What books are connected with it?
The Trivium
Thinking Fast and Slow
