The Language Instinct
How the Mind Creates Language
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The Language Instinct
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Narrated by:
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Arthur Morey
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By:
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Steven Pinker
About this listen
In this classic, the world’s expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution.
The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published.
©2011 Steven Pinker (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
What listeners say about The Language Instinct
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr Jeremy J Osborn
- 01-07-19
Insightful look at what makes us human
I struggled to remember lots of it but the ideas, concepts and more importantly why some people may struggle with language stuck. I liked the games, rhymes and paradoxes.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-06-24
recognition
The book describes our language.
How we learn, speak and should speak.
I have recognised my path of speaking and learning languages.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dylan Hodkinson
- 14-06-18
good
didn't realize language had so much to it! understanding the similarly to creature development and Darwinism theory was good.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rk
- 02-09-18
Awful narration ruined a good book
Really interesting subject matter, totally ruined by a monotone robotic voice.i can't listen to this book. Disappointed.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Dan Tench
- 14-04-18
Endlessly fascinating
A brilliant book full of learning and erudition. Ad often with Pinker, some sections get a little involved particularly for an audio book but overall a masterful piece of work.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Marie Čechová
- 12-06-18
Exceptional reasoning via metaphorical description
First science book I read years ago that fulfilled my hunger for more knowledge about language and set me on a journey of more discovery still sticks up and i will gladly return to it again and again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Epic Taters
- 27-08-15
So much science i don't even
What did you like most about The Language Instinct?
All the science therein.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Stephen Pinker. I think his hair is fabulous.
What about Arthur Morey’s performance did you like?
I liked his mouth words.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The bit about the pixie children is probably the bit that sticks most in my mind.
Any additional comments?
Good book. Read it. (Or listen to it as the case may be).
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Christopher Whalen
- 16-01-25
The Language Mavens
I read a chapter of this book at university and remember really enjoying it. I think it was chapter 12: “The Language Mavens”. At the time I was interested in notions of correct grammar and standard English. I found it to be persuasive: that artificially imposed grammar rules (such as you shouldn’t split an infinitive or shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition) are unnecessary and meaningless. I enjoyed listening to that chapter again, but it’s quite different from the rest of the book, which, although written for a general audience, is still quite academic and thick in the weeds of linguistics. It was interesting but, to be honest, not much of it has stayed with me on the surface level of knowledge since I read the book. I’m not sure how much of it is original research by Steven Pinker, or whether he’s just synthesizing the research of others.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Richard Barker
- 22-08-23
interesting subject spoiled by narration
I was excited to listen to this audio book as the subject fascinates me. Sadly the totally wrong narrator was used and I can't listen to it.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- ([o_o])
- 28-09-20
lots of boring long lists
spends ages just reading every entry on big tables when the point is clear after 2 or 3 examples. this doesn't work well as an audio book
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4 people found this helpful