Review of Language, Mind and Brain: Some Psychological and Neurological Constraints on Theories of Grammar, Ewa Dabrowska; Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004; ISBN 0-7486-1475-3

摘要

This book presents a comprehensive survey of the various subfields of linguistics, as envisaged from a cognitive grammar perspective. It is divided into two parts; the first half is the "basic specifications": issues related to psycholinguistics, acquisition, language and the brain, and evolution of language. The second part elaborates on the "building blocks" of language, namely words, sentences, meaning, et cetera ending finally with "a crash course in cognitive grammar". Broadly, the book provides some critical insights into the existing rationalist trend in linguistics - the generative approach - and suggests alternatives to developing "psychologically realistic" grammatical models.