Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion?

Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion?
Author: Henry Rosemont
Publisher: Open Court
Total Pages: 129
Release: 2015-11-08
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0812699300

In this provocative volume two important scholars of religion, Huston Smith and Henry Rosemont, Jr., put forth their viewpoints and share a probing conversation. Though the two diverge considerably in their accounts of religious faith and practice, they also agree on fundamental points. Huston Smith, author of the important work The World’s Religions, has long argued for the fundamental equality of the world’s religions. Describing a “universal grammar of religion,” he argues that fourteen points of similarity exist among all of the major religious traditions and that these similarities indicate an innate psychological affinity for religion within the human spirit. As Noam Chomsky has argued that humans are hardwired to use language, Smith similarly argues that humans are hardwired for religious experience. In response, Rosemont explicates his humanistic vision of the world, in which the “homoversal” tendency to contemplate the infinite is part of our co-humanity that endures across time, space, language, and culture. Rosemont also elaborates upon Noam Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar and its relevance to Smith’s ideas about the similarities among religions. This insightful exploration of the most essential basis of religion provides a new direction for comparative-religion scholars everywhere.

Chomsky's Universal Grammar

Chomsky's Universal Grammar
Author: Vivian Cook
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2014-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9788126517473

This new edition introduces the reader to Noam Chomsky's theory of language by setting the specifics of syntactic analysis in the framework of his general ideas. It explains its fundamental concepts and provides an overview and history of the theory.

Constructing a Language

Constructing a Language
Author: Michael TOMASELLO
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0674044398

In this groundbreaking book, Tomasello presents a comprehensive usage-based theory of language acquisition. Drawing together a vast body of empirical research in cognitive science, linguistics, and developmental psychology, Tomasello demonstrates that we don't need a self-contained "language instinct" to explain how children learn language. Their linguistic ability is interwoven with other cognitive abilities.

Empirical Linguistics

Empirical Linguistics
Author: Geoffrey Sampson
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2002-09-12
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1847144314

Linguistics has become an empirical science again after several decades when it was preoccupied with speakers' hazy "intuitions" about language structure. With a mixture of English-language case studies and more theoretical analyses, Geoffrey Sampson gives an overview of some of the new findings and insights about the nature of language which are emerging from investigations of real-life speech and writing, often (although not always) using computers and electronic language samples ("corpora"). Concrete evidence is brought to bear to resolve long-standing questions such as "Is there one English language or many Englishes?" and "Do different social groups use characteristically elaborated or restricted language codes?" Sampson shows readers how to use some of the new techniques for themselves, giving a step-by-step "recipe-book" method for applying a quantitative technique that was invented by Alan Turing in the World War II code-breaking work at Bletchley Park and has been rediscovered and widely applied in linguistics fifty years later.

On Language

On Language
Author: Noam Chomsky
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2017-02-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1595587616

The two most popular titles by the noted linguist and critic in one volume—an ideal introduction to his work. On Language features some of Noam Chomsky’s most informal and highly accessible work. In Part I, Language and Responsibility, Chomsky presents a fascinating self-portrait of his political, moral, and linguistic thinking. In Part II, Reflections on Language, Chomsky explores the more general implications of the study of language and offers incisive analyses of the controversies among psychologists, philosophers, and linguists over fundamental questions of language. “Language and Responsibility is a well-organized, clearly written and comprehensive introduction to Chomsky’s thought.” —The New York Times Book Review “Language and Responsibility brings together in one readable volume Chomsky’s positions on issues ranging from politics and philosophy of science to recent advances in linguistic theory. . . . The clarity of presentation at times approaches that of Bertrand Russell in his political and more popular philosophical essays.” —Contemporary Psychology “Reflections on Language is profoundly satisfying and impressive. It is the clearest and most developed account of the case of universal grammar and of the relations between his theory of language and the innate faculties of mind responsible for language acquisition and use.” —Patrick Flanagan

Natural Language and Universal Grammar: Volume 1

Natural Language and Universal Grammar: Volume 1
Author: John Lyons
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 176
Release: 1991-09-12
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780521246965

Essays by one of the most influential scholars in modern linguistics, including previously unpublished pieces.

Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar

Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar
Author: Terence Odlin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1994-03-25
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0521449901

The author brings together authorities from worldwide to update current theory and research in pedagogical grammar.