Language, Bananas and Bonobos: Linguistic Problems, Puzzles and Polemics

How can people who are both blind and deaf communicate? What makes Woody Allen funny? Is it normal to hear colors and see sounds? If questions like these have puzzled you, this book of essays on the nature of language will quench your curiosity.

Language pervades every aspect of life. It is essential to everyone everywhere – from politicians to poets, philosophers to pharmacists – yet linguistics is often forbidding. This collection of short, accessible essays changes that. Language, Bananas, and Bonobos presents a series of engaging reflections on concerns such as our knowledge and use of language, political correctness, and the linguistic abilities of chimpanzees. In doing so, the volume provides new insights into this subject of universal interest.

Preface.

Prelude:.

1. How to be the Center of the Universe.

Part I: Problems:.

2. Tadoma.

3. Putting a Banana in Your Ear.

4. A Fragment of Genius.

5. Colourful Language.

6. The Structure of Noise.

7. Dissociations.

Part II: Puzzles:.

8. Puzzle.

9. PC.

10. Acquired Whining.

11. Godshit.

12. The Golem.

13. $.

Part III: Polemics:.

14. Bonobos.

15. Whales, Sunflowers and the Evolution of Language.

16. Jackdaws, Sex and Language Acquisition.

17. Does Chomsky Exist?.

18. Relentless Jollity, Inexorable Logic and the Nature of Mind.

19. Structural Eccentricities.

20. The Velarity of Linguists.

Glossary.

References.

Index.

Neil Smith is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at University College London, and has been Head of the Linguistics Section of the Department since 1972. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Twitter Machine (Blackwell 1989) and The Mind of a Savant (with Ianthi Tsimpli, Blackwell, 1995). He is one of the editors of Lingua, and is on the board of the Cambridge Studies in Linguistics.

"These sketches by Neil Smith′s deft and expert hands provide a wonderful sampling of many and diverse paths of inquiry inspired by and informing the study of language, the unexpected delights one encounters on the way, the surprising and thought–provoking insights, and the puzzles, paradoxes and mysteries that offer a persistent challenge to understanding of essential elements of human nature." Noam Chomsky , Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Neil Smith has not only a profound knowledge of current developments in linguistics but also a talent for explaining the issues clearly and approachably." John Wells FBA, University College London

"Smith is a thorough linguist with a sense of humor. Readers will find interesting linguistic ideas in small delicate amount enough to induce a linguistic quest for more revealing information. This book offers quick linguistic treats of fresh ideas and key findings in linguistics." Linguistische Berichte