Foundations of Language

Ray Jackendoff is the author of Semantics and Cognition, Consciousness and the Computational Mind, The Architecture of the Language Faculty, and (with Fred Lerdahl) A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. He has been Professor of Linguistics at Brandeis University since 1971. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a past president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.

The book is ... a fascinating introduction to the world of linguistics. ... I found the book extremely interesting, captivating and important. If you are not sure about certain basic facts in the research of natural language, read this book. It will provide you with quite an objective view of the development of the research of language on all aspects.

• PART I: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS ; 1. The Complexity of Linguistic Structure ; 2. Language as a Mental Phenomenon ; 3. Combinatoriality ; 4. Universal Grammar ; PART II: ARCHITECTURAL FOUNDATIONS ; 5. The Parallel Architecture ; 6. Lexical Storage Versus Online Construction ; 7. Implications for Processing ; 8. An Evolutionary Perspective on the Architecture ; PART III: SEMANTIC AND CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS ; 9. Semantics as a Mentalistic Enterprise ; 10. Reference and Truth ; 11. Lexical Semantics ; 12. Phrasal Semantics ; 13. Concluding Remarks