NEW
Library Project
Volume 2, Number 1 - Fall 2003
On
the Bookshelf…
by Anndee
Hochman
The
Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language,
by Steven Pinker. New York: Perennial Classics, 1994.
Spiders embroider webs, birds venture south and human beings talk,
talk, talk. That is the deceptively obvious thrust of Steven Pinker’s
controversial thesis about language: that it is neither cultural invention
nor learned behavior but a biological instinct that every infant
possesses.
What’s thrilling about Pinker’s research is
his proof of the human insistence on making speech: the surprisingly
accurate grammar of toddlers, the remarkable similarities in syntax among
languages from different geographies and times.
What’s aggravating—especially from a
Freirian perspective—is his insistence that the mental machinery linking
language and thought spins only one way. Pinker refutes the common (and
common-sense) idea that the words we use shape our reality, and that,
therefore, different languages would necessarily perpetuate different
world-views.
I see both sides. Our work helping diverse
populations seek meaning in literature attests to the universal
yearning—perhaps even instinct—to make story out of our lives. Yet I
also believe language is a means, for better and for worse, of
transmitting a community’s priorities and prejudices. Words can
enlighten and blind us.
No matter your take on Pinker’s thesis, his
lively writing and anecdote-filled research will leave you with awe about
the everyday miracle that is human speech.