The Philosophy of Universal Grammar

Download or read book The Philosophy of Universal Grammar written by Wolfram Hinzen and published by Oxford University Press (UK). This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary book considers the relationship between language and thought from a philosophical perspective, drawing both on the philosophical study of language and the purely formal study of grammar, and arguing that the two should align. The claim is that grammar provides homo sapiens with the ability to think in certain grammatical ways and that this in turn explains the vast cognitive powers of human beings. Evidence is considered from biology, theevolution of language, language disorders, and linguistic phenomena.