Studying Human Language

I have been reading Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. It is an interesting and well-written book; and by 'well-written' I mean more than just 'grammatically and syntactically correct': the author, a Canadian, is an internationally celebrated expert in the Chomsky tradition, but carries his learning lightly. His style is lively and (insofar as the subject permits !) clear, with a happy knack of occasional and never inappropriate 'lapses' into popular usage.

It is sometimes unnerving for an English Englishman to read a North American's asessment of 'The English Language': the English of the UK, however much it may betray the influence of the USA, nevertheless has its own particular characteristics. Personally, I would like to believe - though I mustn't - that the English spoken in the British Isles is 'standard', and that other versions of it are mere aberrant dialects. No doubt every English-speaking nation tends to regard its own version of the language as standard, and it must be hard to write a book that includes a number of examples of usage without regarding one's own dialect as the normal one. So a UK Englishman needs to accept Pinker's book with due humility.

The only part of the book that annoyed me was Pinker's uncharacteristic dismissal of those who are chiefly interested in the evolution of the English language and its history and variations, the differences between the 'dialects' of the various segments of society, and the quite real dilemmas of literacy and 'correctness'. Yes, we know (or should know) that our language is constantly evolving, and that such an evolution may be driven by cultural differences at all sorts of levels: but it is a little unseemly for a scholar in one particular aspect of language study to dismiss as 'mavens'* (a term that Pinker uses pejoratively with unexpected bitterness) those whose interest, whether as professional writers, critics or speakers, is mainly focussed on another.

* My Dictionary of Slang tells me that 'maven' is American slang (of Hebrew origin) for one who regards him- (or her) self as having insider knowledge. Maven yourself, Pinker ! But I learnt a lot from your book, just the same.

Studying Human Language