{"product_id":"impossible-languages-isbn-9780262549233","title":"Impossible Languages","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn investigation into the possibility of impossible languages, searching for the indelible “fingerprint” of human language.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCan there be such a thing as an impossible human language? A biologist could describe an impossible animal as one that goes against the physical laws of nature (entropy, for example, or gravity). Are there any such laws that constrain languages? In this book, Andrea Moro—a distinguished linguist and neuroscientist—investigates the possibility of impossible languages, searching, as he does so, for the indelible “fingerprint” of human language.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoro shows how the very notion of impossible languages has helped shape research on the ultimate aim of linguistics: to define the class of possible human languages. He takes us beyond the boundaries of Babel, to the set of properties that, despite appearances, all languages share, and explores the sources of that order, drawing on scientific experiments he himself helped design. Moro compares syntax to the reverse side of a tapestry revealing a hidden and apparently intricate structure. He describes the brain as a sieve, considers the reality of (linguistic) trees, and listens for the sound of thought by recording electrical activity in the brain. Words and sentences, he tells us, are like symphonies and constellations: they have no content of their own; they exist because we listen to them and look at them. We are part of the data.Acknowledgments ix\u003cbr\u003e1 Learning from the Impossible 1\u003cbr\u003e2 Capturing the \"Stem Mind\" 11\u003cbr\u003e3 Sentences as Snowflakes 21\u003cbr\u003e4 The Unreasonable Sieve 33\u003cbr\u003e5 The Boundaries of Babel 45\u003cbr\u003e6 Intermezzo or What Exists When a Tree Exists? 61\u003cbr\u003e7 Toward the Source of Order 71\u003cbr\u003e8 The Sound of Thought 85\u003cbr\u003e9 The Inverse Thunderstorm 99\u003cbr\u003e10 Better Than Possible: Artificial Languages 107\u003cbr\u003e11 A Closer Look at the Turtle's Eyes 117\u003cbr\u003eReferences 123\u003cbr\u003eIndex 137Andrea Moro is Professor of General Linguistics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IUSS) in Pavia, Italy. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eImpossible Languages\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Boundaries of Babel\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eA Brief History of the Verb To Be\u003c\/i\u003e (all published by the MIT Press), and other books.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302029971685,"sku":"NP9780262549233","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262549233.jpg?v=1767729896","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/impossible-languages-isbn-9780262549233","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}