I Speak, Therefore I Am

Seventeen Thoughts About Language

Andrea C. Moro, Ian Roberts

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English

Columbia University Press
05 July 2016

linguistics; Philosophy of language; Historical & comparative linguistics

There are no men so dull and stupid, not even idiots, as to be incapable of joining together different words, and thereby constructing a declaration by which to make their thoughts understood... On the other hand, there is no other animal, however perfect or happily circumstanced which can do the like. - Descartes

Language is more like a snowflake than a giraffe's neck. Its specific properties are determined by laws of nature, they have not developed through the accumulation of historical accidents. - Noam Chomsky

In I Speak, Therefore I Am, the Italian linguist and neuroscientist Andrea Moro composes an album of his favorite quotations from the history of linguistics, beginning with the Book of Genesis and the power of naming and concluding with Noam Chomsky's metaphor that language is a snowflake. Moro's seventeen linguistic thoughts and his commentary on them display the humanness of language: our need to name and interpret this world and create imaginary ones, to express and understand ourselves. This book is sure to delight anyone who enjoys the ineffable paradox that is human language.

By: Andrea C. Moro
Translated by: Ian Roberts
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 178mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 8mm
Weight: 113g
ISBN: 9780231177412
ISBN 10: 0231177410
Publication Date: 05 July 2016
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface: Choice, Then Order, Then Chance, Finally Only Light1. God2. Plato3. Aristotle4. Marcus Terentius Varro5. Roger Bacon6. Descartes7. Antoine Arnauld and Claude Lancelot8. Sir William Jones9. Hermann Osthoff and E. Karl Brugmann10. Ferdinand de Saussure11. Bertrand Russell12. Martin Joos13. Roman Jakobson14. Joseph Greenberg15. Eric H. Lenneberg16. Niels Jerne17. Noam ChomskyFinalePostscriptAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliography

Reviews for I Speak, Therefore I Am: Seventeen Thoughts About Language

Combining wide learning, sharp insight, and deft style, these enlightening and intriguing vignettes carry us through the ages to reach considerable understanding of the distinctive linguistic capacity that sets humans apart from the rest of the natural world. -- Noam Chomsky, author of <i>What Kind of Creatures Are We?</i> There is much to find appealing in this pocket-size, readable historical panorama of important thinkers who have pondered the nature of language from the ancient Greeks to the present day. Nobody has drawn out the historical links in the story of language science in this way, and most nonspecialists would learn much from Moro's quite original observations. -- Robert C. Berwick, Massachusetts Institute of Technology I Speak, Therefore I Am explores the intriguing connections between linguistics on the one hand and the sciences and philosophy on the other. The book is abundant with entertaining anecdotes of intellectual history that shed light on these connections. Moro plays the role of wise guide, and leads the reader through a remarkable journey. -- Robert Frank, Yale University The author manages the considerable feat of making insightful remarks about a wide variety of figures in a very short space. * Library Journal *