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book1994

The Language Instinct

Summary

The Language Instinct (1994) by Steven Pinker argues that human language is a biological adaptation—an instinct rather than a cultural invention—drawing on Chomsky's generative grammar and evolutionary psychology.

Core Contribution

Made Chomsky's linguistic insights accessible to a popular audience; integrated linguistics with evolutionary psychology.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • language
  • linguistics
  • evolution
  • cognitive science

Historical Influences

Noam Chomsky Darwin evolutionary psychology

Intellectual Lineage

Steven Pinker Chomskyan linguisticsevolutionary psychology

Allied Works

How the Mind Works The Blank Slate

Contemporaries & Peers

Pinker's other works

Minds Influenced

Popular linguistics language acquisition theory

Intellectual Posterity

No conceptual posterity found.

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