The Language Machine
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A provocative and rigorous critique of modern linguistic theory, The Language Machine completes Roy Harris’s celebrated trilogy—following The Language-Makers (1980) and The Language Myth (1981)—that challenges the fundamental assumptions of how we understand communication. In this volume, Harris examines the profound impact of the electronic computer on contemporary conceptions of language, arguing against the prevailing view that sees human speech as a computational process. By interrogating the shift toward treating language as a fixed-code system for "telementation" (thought-transfer), Harris exposes the dangers of adopting a mechanistic view of human intelligence that risks insulating language from its essential human and moral contexts. Writing with the satirical wit and intellectual acuity that became his hallmark, Harris dismantling the assumption that mechanical speech recognition and automatic translation are merely technical inevitabilities. He invites readers to look beyond the "language myth" and consider the fluid, sign-making nature of human interaction that persists despite the technological trend toward dehumanization. For scholars of linguistics, philosophers of mind, and students of 20th-century intellectual history, this 1987 Cornell University Press first edition remains a vital, biting, and highly original contribution to the field that continues to resonate in our age of artificial intelligence.
Author: Roy Harris
Format: Hardback
Genre: Reference & language
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A provocative and rigorous critique of modern linguistic theory, The Language Machine completes Roy Harris’s celebrated trilogy—following The Language-Makers (1980) and The Language Myth (1981)—that challenges the fundamental assumptions of how we understand communication. In this volume, Harris examines the profound impact of the electronic computer on contemporary conceptions of language, arguing against the prevailing view that sees human speech as a computational process. By interrogating the shift toward treating language as a fixed-code system for "telementation" (thought-transfer), Harris exposes the dangers of adopting a mechanistic view of human intelligence that risks insulating language from its essential human and moral contexts. Writing with the satirical wit and intellectual acuity that became his hallmark, Harris dismantling the assumption that mechanical speech recognition and automatic translation are merely technical inevitabilities. He invites readers to look beyond the "language myth" and consider the fluid, sign-making nature of human interaction that persists despite the technological trend toward dehumanization. For scholars of linguistics, philosophers of mind, and students of 20th-century intellectual history, this 1987 Cornell University Press first edition remains a vital, biting, and highly original contribution to the field that continues to resonate in our age of artificial intelligence.