Whether all human languages are fundamentally the same or different has been a subject of debate for ages. This problem has deep philosophical implications: If languages are all the same, it implies a fundamental commonality-and thus the mutual intelligibility-of human thought. We are now on the verge of answering this question. Using a twenty-year-old theory proposed by the world's greatest living linguist, Noam Chomsky, researchers have found that the similarities among languages are more profound than the differences. Languages whose grammars seem completely incompatible may in fact be structurally almost identical, except for a difference in one simple rule. The discovery of these rules and how they may vary promises to yield a linguistic equivalent of the Periodic Table of the Elements: a single framework by which we can understand the fundamental structure of all human language. This is a landmark breakthrough, both within linguistics, which will thereby become a full-fledged science for the first time, and in our understanding of the human mind.

While scholarship on Lucretius has looked to connect De rerum natura to its larger cultural and historical context, it has never turned to speech act theory in this quest. This omission is striking at least in so far as speech act theory was developed precisely as a way of locating language (including texts) within a theory of action. At its root speech act theory is about how language is part of history and acts within it, and it thus holds promise for addressing this long-standing scholarly concern. Further, as this book asserts, speech act theory is not some modern development that one may apply to De rerum natura but rather a theory native, at least in some respects, to Epicurus' school. The argument contends that a central problem in Epicurean semantics may be resolved if we allow that Epicurus (or his school) developed an understanding of performative language. It reads the fragmentary remains of Epicurus' writing on language against central texts of speech act theory such as J. L. Austin's How to Do Things with Words and Émile Benveniste's definition of the performative as a form of speaking in which the act of speech creates its own referent. The book moves on to consider the larger place of performativity within De rerum natura, and the poem's insight on the acts of promising and naming. Bridging critical theory and ancient philosophy, The Language of Atoms will engage scholars in a host of humanities disciplines, including Classics, Philosophy, and Comparative Literature.

"If you are not already a Steven Pinker addict, this book will make you one." -- Jared Diamond In Words and Rules, Steven Pinker explores profound mysteries of language by picking a deceptively simple phenomenon -- regular and irregular verbs -- and examining it from every angle. With humor and verve, he covers an astonishing array of topics in the sciences and humanities, from the history of languages to how to simulate languages on computers to major ideas in the history of Western philosophy. Through it all, Pinker presents a single, powerful idea: that language comprises a mental dictionary of memorized words and a mental grammar of creative rules. The idea extends beyond language and offers insight into the very nature of the human mind. This is a sparkling, eye-opening, and utterly original book by one of the world's leading cognitive scientists.

Documents life in a remote Bedouin village in Israel whose residents communicate through a unique method of sign language used by both hearing and non-hearing citizens, in an account that offers insight into the relationship between language and the human mind. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

A major scientific breakthrough into the common elements of all languages, which give us a deeper insight than ever before into how the mind works.

A short, illustrated introduction to the tiny building blocks of our universeincluding atoms, quarks, and the periodic table. Illustrations. 10,000print.

A barbed rebuttal to the conservative view that popular culture is destroying the English language.