Christopher J. Hall, An introduction to language and linguistics: Breaking the language spell

Extract

Christopher J. Hall, An introduction to language and linguistics: Breaking the language spell. London/New York: Continuum, 2005. Pp. xvii, 344. Pb. $24.95.

Part 1, “Magic,” introduces language and linguistics. The “Language Spell” is Hall's metaphor for human beings' misperception of the nature of language as primarily social. The insights of (generative) linguistics hold the key to breaking the Spell, by revealing the “essential biological reality” of the “language faculty” (xii). The book opens with a discussion of language and thought (“mentalese”), where terms like “mystery” (10), “miracle” (11), “cognitive magic” (14), and the assignment of increasingly volitional features to the Spell (e.g., 26) set the tone.