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Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: AudiobookHub Recommendation
Chapter 2: Even the gravest tragedies can ignite linguistic debates, and words matter more in practice than assumed by many.
Chapter 3: Babies don’t learn to speak by imitation; they must instead master language’s underlying abstract structures and patterns.
Chapter 4: Some people insist words are elemental and innate, yet closer scrutiny reveals they’re complex constructions acquired over time through experience.
Chapter 5: Simple linguistic devices serve many purposes, fostering ambiguity and sometimes landing people in serious trouble too.
Chapter 6: Smart use of language can yield striking inconsistencies within human behavior.
Chapter 7: Names often seem packed with meaning about a person, yet they really point to something far more basic and essential.
Chapter 8: Words are dynamic, and their social acceptability varies greatly with time.
Chapter 9: Politeness involves speaking indirectly, and the effects of such speech shift as they become more common.
Description
The Stuff Of Thought (2007) offers an in-depth look at language and, more specifically, what it can tell us about human nature and the complexities of the human mind. These blinks touch on everything from our ability to unconsciously detect subtle grammatical patterns to the linguistic rules surrounding politeness.
Who Should Listen
- Readers interested in the complexity of language
- Psychologists and language therapists
- Students of linguistics and literature