Impossible Languages

Andrea Moro

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English

MIT Press
19 September 2023

Lexicography

An investigation into the possibility of impossible languages, searching for the indelible ""fingerprint"" of human language.

An investigation into the possibility of impossible languages, searching for the indelible ""fingerprint"" of human language.

Can 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.

Moro 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.

By: Andrea Moro
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 137mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780262549233
ISBN 10: 0262549239
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 19 September 2023
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

"Acknowledgments ix 1 Learning from the Impossible 1 2 Capturing the ""Stem Mind"" 11 3 Sentences as Snowflakes 21 4 The Unreasonable Sieve 33 5 The Boundaries of Babel 45 6 Intermezzo or What Exists When a Tree Exists? 61 7 Toward the Source of Order 71 8 The Sound of Thought 85 9 The Inverse Thunderstorm 99 10 Better Than Possible: Artificial Languages 107 11 A Closer Look at the Turtle's Eyes 117 References 123 Index 137"

Andrea Moro is Professor of General Linguistics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IUSS) in Pavia, Italy. He is the author of Impossible Languages, The Boundaries of Babel, and A Brief History of the Verb To Be (all published by the MIT Press), and other books.

Reviews for Impossible Languages

""Impossible Languages is written in a succinct and easy-to-follow style, focusing on what makes human language distinct from any other communication system."" -Journal of Universal Language