Words and things

Description

"Words and Things deals with language as human behavior and seeks to explain it as such. It looks for rthe origins of language in the world fo children and primitives and traces its development into the subtle tool of propaganda and advertising that we know today. It reconstructs the process of choosing sounds for ideas and looks for the earliest root words with which language began. by revealing the origins of language, Words and Things leads us to understand why we can guess the meaning of foreign words with more than chance success; it leads us to understand the world of the man who has but one word for 'blue' and 'green'; it brings us to understand a world that became ours with our native tongue--a world of 'dry' martinis, G.I. Joes, and unpopular commercials that increase sales. Words and things is based on the accumulated knowledge from generations of scholarship, as well as the most recent scientific research by linguists, pschologists, and others. It is most notable for the original and important contributions of the author, who is an outstanding authority in this field"--Provided by publisher.  Read more... pt. 1. The analysis of speech. Phonetics -- Phonemics -- Reference-making utterances -- pt. 2. The history of writing and a dispute about reading. A psychological history of writing -- Methods of learning to read -- pt. 3. Reference and meaning. Naming and the mental image -- Meaning as a particular response -- Meaning as a behavior disposition -- pt. 4. Phonetic symbolism and metaphor. Phonetic symbolism -- Metaphor -- pt. 5. The comparative psychology of linguistic reference. Animal languages -- Animals given an opportunity to learn human language -- Feral and isolated man -- pt. 6. The original word game. The motor skill -- The perception od speech -- Speeach as an attribute of a category to be acquired -- Speech as evidence that the speaker has a referent category -- The uses of the named category -- pt. 7. Linguistic relativity and determinism. The literal translation -- Cases of a name and the lack of a name -- Cases of unlike etymology -- Differences of form class -- Cases of forced observation in grammar -- Relativity and a complex society -- Culture area and language area -- Relativity and determinism in general -- pt. 8. Progressions and pathologies. The three progressions -- The pathologies. Aphasia Schizophrenia A psycho-genetic law -- pt. 9. Persuasion, expression, and propaganda. The contingent effectiveness of persuasion techniques -- Languahe as expression -- The dependence of persuasive effects on expressive meanings -- Three kinds of persuasion situation -- pt. 10. Linguistic reference in psychology. Reliability in technical linguistic reference -- Validity in technical linguistic reference -- The persuasive power of the human nature concept -- The definition of stereotype.