Foundations of Language shows one of the most fundamental new thinkings in linguistics since Noam Chomskyis Aspects of the Theory of Syntax in 1965. Foundations of Language opens up vivid new perspectives on every major aspect of language and communication: grammar vocabulary, learning, origins of language, and the relationship of language and thought to the real world. It puts linguistics at the centre of the search for understanding human nature and human cognition. In my opinion, the author presents in this book a broad survey in linguistics, introducing his personal perspective in the field of theoretical linguistics. Ray Jackendoff proposes a new holistic theory of the relation between the sounds, structure, and meaning of language and their relation to the mind and the brain. Jackendoff goes on to defend a radical conception of how the brain stores and processes language, and how grammar relies on parallel generative systems that are integrated through interface components. The interdisciplinary approach of Foundations of Language makes the book specially up to date, recognizing the interaction of psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy, setting a groundbreaking agenda for close co-operation of these knowledge areas. According to the author, this book has been written with three concentric audiences in mind, being the most central, of course, linguistics of all specialities and all persuasions. The next ring includes those disciplines that look to linguistics for theoretical models: psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, language acquisition and computational linguistics. The outer ring includes all those having some professional concern with languages, including psychologists, cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, philosophers of language and philosophers of mind, and, perhaps, evolutionary biologists. The general structure of the book has been designed to be read and re-read by anyone seriously interested in the state of the art of research on language. The book is divided into three parts:
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