7 reasons to read Steven Pinker

I read The Language Instinct for three reasons: because I've always been fascinated by words; because I plan to study in it, at least for a year; and because my mother put it in my hands and begged me to read it before I made my program choice. She told me that if I didn't like this book, I wouldn't like linguistics. Straight to the point. And as the deadline approached, I didn't have much choice.

This is a great book... but it takes effort. It's a scientific book, in English no less, and even though the author is a popularizer who I consider incredible, he couldn't help but put diagrams all over the place. (I just skipped over it. Let's just say I'm saving this for my studies.)

But the effort is worth it, and here's why I think everyone should read a book like this:

1. To appreciate the complexity of language

   The author describes at length how language is much more difficult than it seems. A simple sentence like "The dog likes ice cream" requires a phenomenal knowledge of word categories, vocabulary, and simple logic to determine meaning. Interrogative sentences, which small children learn so quickly, are hell to unravel as adults. And so on.

2. To find yourself intelligent

   It goes with my first point: this infinite complexity of language goes from butter in the human brain. Children already know how to speak very well around 3-4 years old, and they invent an infinite number of sentences that nobody has shown them before. They already have, at this age, a mastery of the language that we don't even realize because it seems so normal. And once they are adults... what wonders can be achieved with language! We can create images in people's heads, express abstract ideas, convince, invent objects that do not exist, inform...

3. To stop talking to babies as if they were retarded

   Basically, Steven Pinker explains how ridiculous it is to try to name everything to a child: "The flower. Flo-wer. Flooo-wer." Because even though the child can't pronounce the word yet, they soak it all up like a sponge, especially all the other phrases you've spoken without specifically addressing them. And think about the fact that the flower can be named in many ways, or that it's not just this one object that's called a flower, but an array of all sorts of shapes and colors.

4. To understand that language is not a sign of intelligence, but a characteristic of the human being

   It is not because animals are stupid that they cannot speak: it is because they do not feel the need to. Bonobos are very intelligent, but it is impossible to teach them to speak. All our attempts to do so are completely futile.

5. To be lenient with electronic translation tools

   Language requires a human brain to perform. Trying to put the thinking ability needed for language into a computer is going to take a lot more time. The computer does what it can. In the meantime, hire translators 😉

6. To feel one with the rest of the world: after all, we all speak the same language

   This is exactly the Tower of Babel. When studying almost all the languages on earth, linguists are struck by how much they are based on the same foundation. No one speaks "mathematics", or "computer science". We all use language. And it's fabulous.

7. To speak our "slang" with pride

   Steven Pinker argues that language does not have to be fancy to be correct. And that the varieties of language within populations are no more or less complex than others. There is no such thing as "good" or "bad" French: if it is used, it is good.

It took me a long time to write this post, because I feel that the subject is beyond me. And that's why you have to read this book: to access knowledge that is normally closed to us. Thanks to Steven Pinker, everything becomes clearer and more exciting.

The Language Instinct : How The Mind Creates Language

Steven Pinker

16,34 $