Abstract：

All humans, but no other species, have the capacity to create and understand language. It provides structure to our thoughts, allowing us to plan, communicate, and create new ideas, without limit. Yet we have only finite experiences, and our languages have finite stores of words. Where does our linguistic creativity come from? How does the endless scope of language emerge from our limited selves?

Drawing on research from neuroscience, psychology, and linguistics, David Adger takes the reader on a journey to the hidden structure behind all we say (or sign) and understand. Along the way you'll meet children who created language out of almost nothing, and find out how new languages emerge using structures found in languages spoken continents away. David Adger will show you how the more than 7000 languages in the world appear to obey the same deep scientific laws, how to invent a language that breaks these, and how our brains go crazy when we try to learn languages that just aren't possible. You'll discover why rats are better than we are at picking up certain language patterns, why apes are far worse at others, and how artificial intelligences, such as those behind Alexa and Siri, understand language in a very un-human way.

简介：

人类具有其他物种所没有的语言创造力及理解力。语言作为人类的思维工具，让我们无限地筹划、交流和提出新的想法。然而，人类的经验及语言中的词汇数量却是有限的。那么我们的语言创造力从何而来呢？我们又如何利用有限的知识表达无穷的内容呢？

David Adger结合神经科学、心理学和语言学三个领域的研究，带领读者展开了一场探索语言结构的神秘之旅。在这一旅途中，你会惊讶于孩子们的语言创造力，并了解到一门新语言的衍生过程；你会领略世界上7000多种语言如何遵守相同的深层规则，知晓怎样发明一种“不可能的语言”来使大脑“发疯”；你会发现老鼠为什么对某些语言模式更敏感，猿猴为什么和人类差很多，以及为何人工智能（如Alexa和Siri背后的人工智能）理解语言没那么“智能”。

- David Adger-

David Adger，英国伦敦大学玛丽皇后学院语言学教授，现任英国语言学协会主席，同时也是ITV系列剧《贝奥武夫》中怪兽语言的发明者。他曾多次在《新科学家》和《对话》等杂志中发表文章，并受邀参加过天空新闻、英国广播公司第四台和澳大利亚的DriveTime等多档节目。在25年的教学生涯中他的足迹遍布世界各地，包括喜马拉雅山脚下。

David Adger is Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London, current President of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain, and inventor of the monsters' language for the ITV series Beowulf. His research has been reported on in New Scientist and The Conversation, and he has appeared on Sky News, BBC Radio 4, and Australia's DriveTime. His 25 years of teaching have taken him all over the world, including to the foothills of the Himalayas.