Behind the Words

How does language work? This book explains the social and cognitive processes that make it possible for us to talk.

The ability to use language is one of the most remarkable cognitive capacities human beings possess. Drawing on rich empirical research, this book investigates, in a clear and accessible style, what is going on behind the words, exploring how human language emerges from a network of social and cognitive skills.What is language and how does it work? The ability to use language is one of the most remarkable cognitive capacities humans possess. This book investigates, in a clear and accessible style, what is going on behind the words. Based on a rich literature of empirical research, Hilpert argues that human language emerges from a network of social and cognitive skills, such as categorization, joint attention, and analogical reasoning, which are not just used in language, but also in other domains of human cognition. Each chapter covers a different aspect of language and shows how these are all interlinked as part of a social and cognitive system, to show that ultimately, the foundations of language are not in themselves linguistic. For anyone who is curious about the human linguistic capacity, this fascinating book offers a compelling account of how language works, and how its complexity emerges from simpler components.