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The Prism of Grammar
How Child Language Illuminates Humanism
Tom Roeper
 Table of Contents and Sample Chapters
Every sentence we hear is instantly analyzed by
an inner grammar; just as a prism refracts a beam of light, grammar
divides a stream of sound, linking diverse strings of information to
different domains of mind--memory, vision, emotions, intentions. In The Prism of Grammar,
Tom Roeper brings the abstract principles behind modern grammar to life
by exploring the astonishing intricacies of child language. Adult
expressions provide endless puzzles for the child to solve. The
individual child's solutions ("Don't uncomfortable the cat" is one
example) may amuse adults but they also reveal the complexity of
language and the challenges of mastering it. The tiniest utterances,
says Roeper, reflect the whole mind and engage the child's free will
and sense of dignity.
He offers numerous and novel "explorations"--many at the cutting
edge of current work--that anyone can try, even in conversation around
the dinner table. They elicit how the child confronts "recursion"--the
heartbeat of grammar--through endless possessives ("John's mother's
friend's car"), mysterious plurals, contradictory adjectives, the
marvels of ellipsis, and the deep obscurity of reference ("there it is, right here").
They are not tests of skill; they are tools for discovery and delight,
not diagnosis. Each chapter on acquisition begins with a commonsense
look at how structures work--moving from the simple to the complex--and
then turns to the literary and human dimensions of grammar. One
important human dimension is the role of dialect in society and in the
lives of children. Roeper devotes three chapters to the structure of
African-American English and the challenge of responding to linguistic
prejudice.
Written in a lively style, accessible and gently provocative, The Prism of Grammar
is for parents and teachers as well as students--for everyone who wants
to understand how children gain and use language--and anyone interested
in the social, philosophical, and ethical implications of how we see
the growing mind emerge.
Tom Roeper, Professor of Linguistics at the University of
Massachusetts, has studied child language for thirty years, and is a
co-author of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation (DELV),
co-editor of Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics, and one of the founding editors of Language Acquisition.
He has worked on numerous grants from National Science Foundation,
National Institutes of Health in the US and other national science
foundations in Canada, Europe and Asia. He has lectured all over the
world on these topics.
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"This
engaging, perceptive, and wide-ranging study investigates individual
languages in terms of the challenges they pose for the child as well as
their often surprising relations to other languages and to the general
principles that constitute the genetically-determined language faculty.
It goes on to unravel prejudices and misunderstandings, and to offer a
more general conception of how the mind functions and of our place in a
community of mutual respect and understanding. Lucid and engaging, The Prism of Grammar
leads the reader from striking observations and experiments with
children that anyone can carry out to subtle and intricate issues that
concern every parent--in fact, anyone seeking to understand who we are
and what we should be."
--Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor, MIT
"For three decades, Tom Roeper has been one of the most acute
observers of semantic and grammatical subtleties in children’s speech,
and one of the most creative thinkers on how to connect linguistic
theory with language acquisition research. It is nice to have his
insights collected into a book, which will be a source of ideas for
years to come."
--Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Language Instinct, Words and Rules, and The Stuff of Thought
"It has been said that as children we wrestle with the deepest
mysteries of our time--the mind-body problem, the existence of God--but
that adulthood's common emphasis on conformity purges this intellectual
curiosity. In Tom Roeper's able hands we are treated to a journey back
to this period of intense curiosity and mental growth--one
characterized by an exuberance of questions and comments, each
reflecting intricate computations of the mind. But Roeper goes further
and, with great courage and insight, attempts to show how the study of
child language illuminates a much broader range of topics, from our
capacity for free will to our often unconscious prejudices."
--Marc D. Hauser, Harvard College Professor, author of Moral Minds
View All Endorsements
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