The Boundaries of Babel

The Brain and the Enigma of Impossible Languages

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Linguistics, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Mind & Body
Cover of the book The Boundaries of Babel by Andrea Moro, The MIT Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Andrea Moro ISBN: 9780262329682
Publisher: The MIT Press Publication: November 20, 2015
Imprint: The MIT Press Language: English
Author: Andrea Moro
ISBN: 9780262329682
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication: November 20, 2015
Imprint: The MIT Press
Language: English

The new edition of a pioneering book that examines research at the intersection of contemporary theoretical linguistics and the cognitive neurosciences.

In The Boundaries of Babel, Andrea Moro describes an encounter between two cultures: contemporary theoretical linguistics and the cognitive neurosciences. As a leading theoretical linguist in the generative tradition and also a neuroscientist, Moro is uniquely equipped to tell this story.

Moro examines what he calls the “hidden” revolution in contemporary science: the discovery that the number of possible grammars is not infinite and that their number is biologically limited. This will require us to rethink not just the fundamentals of linguistics and neurosciences but also our view of the human mind. Moro searches for neurobiological correlates of “the boundaries of Babel”—the constraints on the apparent chaotic variation in human languages—by using an original experimental design based on artificial languages exploiting neuroimaging techniques.

This second edition includes a new chapter in which Moro extends the exploration of the boundaries of Babel in search of the source of order with which all human languages are endowed. Reflecting on the emerging methodology that obtains physiological data from awake brain surgery, Moro shifts from considering where the neurophysiological processes underlying linguistic competence take place—that is, where neurons are activated—to considering the neuronal code involved in these processes—that is, what neurons communicate to each other. This edition also features a substantive new foreword by Noam Chomsky synthesizing the major issues theoretical syntax will face in the near future.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The new edition of a pioneering book that examines research at the intersection of contemporary theoretical linguistics and the cognitive neurosciences.

In The Boundaries of Babel, Andrea Moro describes an encounter between two cultures: contemporary theoretical linguistics and the cognitive neurosciences. As a leading theoretical linguist in the generative tradition and also a neuroscientist, Moro is uniquely equipped to tell this story.

Moro examines what he calls the “hidden” revolution in contemporary science: the discovery that the number of possible grammars is not infinite and that their number is biologically limited. This will require us to rethink not just the fundamentals of linguistics and neurosciences but also our view of the human mind. Moro searches for neurobiological correlates of “the boundaries of Babel”—the constraints on the apparent chaotic variation in human languages—by using an original experimental design based on artificial languages exploiting neuroimaging techniques.

This second edition includes a new chapter in which Moro extends the exploration of the boundaries of Babel in search of the source of order with which all human languages are endowed. Reflecting on the emerging methodology that obtains physiological data from awake brain surgery, Moro shifts from considering where the neurophysiological processes underlying linguistic competence take place—that is, where neurons are activated—to considering the neuronal code involved in these processes—that is, what neurons communicate to each other. This edition also features a substantive new foreword by Noam Chomsky synthesizing the major issues theoretical syntax will face in the near future.

More books from The MIT Press

Cover of the book Sport 2.0 by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book Waste Is Information by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book The Discipline of Organizing by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book Lifelong Kindergarten by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book The Illusion of Conscious Will by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book The Cognitive Science of Science by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book The Future of Thinking by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book Numbered Lives by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book Literary Gaming by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book Why We Cooperate by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book Sharing Cities by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book The Hidden Sense by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book Authors, Users, and Pirates by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book The Sharing Economy by Andrea Moro
Cover of the book Applied State Estimation and Association by Andrea Moro
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy