One of the world's science superstars presents a brilliantly illuminating, entertaining and cutting-edge account of how language actually works.How does language work? How do children learn their mother tongue? Why do languages change over time, making Chaucer's English almost incomprehensible? Steven Pinker explains the profound mysteries of language by picking a deceptively simple single phenomenon and examining it from every angle. That phenomenon - the existenc...

'Dazzling...Pinker's big idea is that language is an instinct...as innate to us as flying is to geese...Words can hardly do justice to the superlative range and liveliness of Pinker's investigations'- Independent'A marvellously readable book...illuminates every facet of human language: its biological origin, its uniqueness to humanity, it acquisition by children, its grammatical structure, the production and perception of speech, the pathology of language disorders and the u...

The world's greatest mental mathematical magician takes us on a spellbinding journey through the wonders of numbers (and more)"Arthur Benjamin . . . joyfully shows you how to make nature's numbers dance." -- Bill Nye (the science guy)The Magic of Math is the math book you wish you had in school. Using a delightful assortment of examples-from ice-cream scoops and poker hands to measuring mountains and making magic squares-this book revels in key mat...

Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Daniel Dennett leads the reader on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were magically given the power of language, would their communities evolve an intelligence as subtly...

Jacques Lacan is now regarded as a major psychoanalytical theorist alongside Freud and Jung, although recognition has been delayed by fierce arguments over his ideas. Written by a leading Lacanian analyst, "Introducing Lacan" guides the reader through his innovations, including his work on paranoia, his addition of structural linguistics to Freudianism and his ideas on the infant 'mirror phase'. It also traces Lacan's influence in postmodern critical thinking on art, literature, philosophy...

Featuring new coverage of the brain and language, and lexical corpora, the 4th edition of Words in the Mind offers readers the latest thinking about the ways in which we learn words, remember them, understand them, and find the ones we want to use.Explores the latest insights into the complex relationship between language, words, and the human mind, creating a rich and revealing resource for students and non-specialists alikeAddresses the structure and cont...

Language typology identifies similarities and differences among languages of the world. This textbook provides an introduction to the subject which assumes minimal prior knowledge of linguistics. It offers the broadest coverage of any introductory book, including sections on historical change, language acquisition, and language processing. Students will become familiar with the subject by working through numerous examples of crosslinguistic generalizations and diversity in syntax, morpholo...

What is Morphology? is a concise and critical introduction to the central ideas of morphology, which has been revised and expanded to include additional material on morphological productivity and the mental lexicon, experimental and computational methods, and new teaching material.Introduces the fundamental aspects of morphology to students with minimal background in linguisticsIncludes additional material on morphological productivity and the mental lexico...

How to Reach the 9.0 is a series created by the tutors of IELTS Medical in order to complement our IELTS Academic classes for medical professionals. Writing is the third part of the IELTS exam. It takes 1 hour and consists of two parts: a report and an essay. Promoting regular practice, our tutors break down each skill with an emphasis on achieving high scores in the Writing exam. With an emphasis on tutoring students to respond to the task appropriately, we also teach Medics to write regu...

**An "excellent work of popular science" (New Republic) by a New York Times-bestselling author that unites history and science to reveal how the mind does languageIn Words and Rules, Steven Pinker explores profound mysteries of language by picking a deceptively simple phenomenon -- regular and irregular verbs -- and examining it from every angle. With humor and verve, he covers an astonishing array of topics in the sciences and humanities, from t...

A real-world guide to passing the entrance exam for Catholic high schoolCatholic High School Entrance Exams For Dummies provides students and their parents with an efficient and effective way to prepare for the HSPT, TACHS, and COOP-the three entrance exams used by Catholic high schools. Included areSix full-length practice testsTest-taking tips from the expertsThorough reviews of each test's formatWith full...

Magic squares it seems have been around for some 4000 years, possibly starting with the 'Loh Shu' square of Chinese legend. They have ever exercised the minds of recreational puzzlers and mathematicians alike; they have featured in art, architecture and books (both novels and learned writings). In this collection I have gathered together a selection from the many sources and added a few touches of my own. It is not a learned text and contains only a modest bit of real maths; it may bore ma...