Language, Consciousness, Culture: Essays on Mental Structure (Jean Nicod Lectures)
Ray Jackendoff may be the deepest and widest-ranging scholar writing on language and mind today. From the technicalities of syntactic theory to the emotional resonance of music, from the logic of social relationships to the nature of consciousness, Ray has consistently offered original, insightful, and substantive analyses of the mysteries of the mind. These essays present his latest illuminations of these fascinating topics, and I recommend them to anyone interested in how the mind works.(Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, and author ofThe Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature)Jackendoff combines theoretical rigor with an extraordinary command over the rich complexities of language use and other social activities, yielding deep insights into the cognitive underpinnings of a sweeping range of human behaviors. This book is brimming with new ideas that will reward readers across the cognitive sciences -- computer scientists, linguists, psychologists, social scientists, and philosophers alike.(Deb Roy, Director, Cognitive Machines, Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, AT&T; Career Development Professor, The Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)I wish that other linguists, both generative and cognitive, had [Jackendoff's] scope and intellectual ambition.(George LakoffAmerican Scientist)