LINGUIST List 14.2979

Fri Oct 31 2003

Books: Cognitive Science: Levinson/Masataka

Editor for this issue: Neil Salmond <neillinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. jreid, Space in Language and Cognition: Levinson
2. jreid, The Onset of Language: Masataka

		
Title: Space in Language and Cognition
Subtitle: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity
Series Title: Language Culture and Cognition
			
Publication Year: 2003
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
 http://www.cup.org
			
Book URL: http://us.cambridge.org/titles/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521011965
Availability: Available
 
Author: Stephen C. Levinson, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics 

Paperback: ISBN: 0521011965, Pages: 414, Price: U.S. $: 24
Paperback: ISBN: 0521011965, Pages: 414, Price: U.K. �: 17.95
Paperback: ISBN: 0521011965, Pages: 414, Price: AUS $: 59.95
Paperback: ISBN: 0521011965, Pages: 414, Price: Europe EURO: 24.93

Abstract:
			
Languages differ in how they describe space, and such differences
between languages can be used to explore the relation between language
and thought. This book shows that even in a core cognitive domain like
spatial thinking, language influences how people think, memorize and
reason about spatial relations and directions. After outlining a
typology of spatial coordinate systems in language and cognition, it
is shown that not all languages use all types, and that non-linguistic
cognition mirrors the systems available in the local language. The
book reports on collaborative, interdisciplinary research, involving
anthropologists, linguists and psychologists, conducted in many
languages and cultures around the world, which establishes this robust
correlation. The overall results suggest that most current thinking in
the cognitive sciences underestimates the transformative power of
language on thinking. The book will be of interest to linguists,
psychologists, anthropologists and philosophers, and especially to
students of spatial cognition.

Preface
1. The intellectual background: two millenia of Western ideas about
 spatial thinking
2. Frames of reference
3. Linguistic diversity
4. Absolute minds: glimpses into two cultures
5. Diversity in mind: methods and results from a cross-linguistic sample
6. Beyond language: frames of reference in wayfinding and pointing
7. Language and thought

Lingfield(s):	Cognitive Science
		Philosophy of Language
		Psycholinguistics

Written In: English (Language Code: English)

 See this book announcement on our website:
	 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=7931=7931

		
Title: The Onset of Language
Series Title: Cambridge Studies in Cognitive and Perceptual
Development
			
Publication Year: 2003
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
 http://www.cup.org
			
Book URL: http://us.cambridge.org/titles/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521593964
Availability: Available
 
Author: Nobuo Masataka, Kyoto University 

Hardback: ISBN: 0521593964, Pages: 293, Price: U.S. $: 70.00
Hardback: ISBN: 0521593964, Pages: 293, Price: U.K. �: 47.50
Hardback: ISBN: 0521593964, Pages: 293, Price: AUS $: 160.00
Hardback: ISBN: 0521593964, Pages: 293, Price: Europe EURO: 65.97

Abstract:
			
The Onset of Language outlines an approach to the development of
expressive and communicative behaviour from early infancy to the onset
of single word utterances. Nobuo Masataka's research is rooted in
ethology and dynamic action theory. He argues that expressive and
communicative actions are organised as a complex and cooperative
system with other elements of the infant's physiology, behaviour and
the social environments. Overall, humans are provided with a finite
set of specific behaviour patterns, each of which is phylogenetically
inherited as a primate species. However, the patterns are uniquely
organised during ontogeny and a coordinated structure emerges which
eventually leads us to acquire language. This fascinating book offers
exciting, new insights into the precursors of speech and will be of
interest to researchers and students of psychology, linguistics and
animal behaviour biology.

1. Introduction
2. The development of the ability to take turns
3. Cooing in three-month-old infants
4. The development of vocal imitation
5. How infant-directed speech influences infant vocal development
6. From laughter to babbling
7. Earliest language development in Sign Language
8. From babbling to speaking
9. Summary and conclusion		

Lingfield(s):	Cognitive Science
		Language Acquisition
		Psycholinguistics

Written In: English (Language Code: English)

 See this book announcement on our website:
	 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=7966