Linguistics

Breaking the Maya Code  (Third Edition) by Michael D. Coe, Thames & Hudson, 2012.  The Mayans of Central America left behind a body of  stone inscriptions. Mayan specialists have, until recently, made little progress in deciphering their writing system. This has changed in the last few decades, because a new approach has been taken. Modern linguists have studied the spoken languages of the descendants of the Mayans to help them decipher the stone inscriptions. Their efforts h

The Language Instinct T he Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language  by Steven Pinker, Harper Perennial, 1995.  Summary:   This book is at the border of cognitive science and linguistics. It argues that language is partly inherited and biological.  Deep Structure:   Noam Chomsky asserted that part of grammar is built into the brain at birth. Chomsky called it “deep structure”. Chomsky considered the earlier hypothesis that children infer grammatical rules from general

Th e Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind’s Greatest Invention  by Guy Deutscher, Metropolitan Books, 2006.  Language appears to have been consciously invented by some prehistoric linguistic genius. But it was not. It evolved. This book describes how gradual changes made by individuals over the course of time can lead to complex language. There are several causes of changes: (a) economy: principle of least effort, (b) expressiveness: increase the range of id