A Brief History of the Verb To Be
304
A Brief History of the Verb To Be
304Paperback
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Overview
Beginning with the early works of Aristotle, the interpretation of the verb to be runs through Western linguistic thought like Ariadne's thread. As it unravels, it becomes intertwined with philosophy, metaphysics, logic, and even with mathematics—so much so that Bertrand Russell showed no hesitation in proclaiming that the verb to be was a disgrace to the human race.
With the conviction that this verb penetrates modern linguistic thinking, creating scandal in its wake and, like a Trojan horse of linguistics, introducing disruptive elements that lead us to rethink radically the most basic structure of human language—the sentence—Andrea Moro reconstructs this history. From classical Greece to the dueling masters of medieval logic through the revolutionary geniuses from the seventeenth century to the Enlightenment, and finally to the twentieth century—when linguistics became a driving force and model for neuroscience—the plot unfolds like a detective story, culminating in the discovery of a formula that solves the problem even as it raises new questions—about language, evolution, and the nature and structure of the human mind. While Moro never resorts to easy shortcuts, A Brief History of the Verb To Be isn't burdened with inaccessible formulas and always refers to the broader picture of mind and language. In this way it serves as an engaging introduction to a new field of cutting-edge research.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780262552059 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | MIT Press |
| Publication date: | 05/21/2024 |
| Pages: | 304 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.38(w) x 8.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Only One Passion ix
Acknowledgments xi
Prologue xiii
1 To Be-and Not "Being"-or, The Names of the Verb 1
1.1 The Name of Tense 7
1.2 The Name of Affirmation 29
1.3 The Name of Identity 44
2 Anatomy of a Sentence 69
2.1 The Calm before the Storm 81
2.2 Molecules of Words 85
2.3 The Anomaly of the Copula: The Asymmetry That Isn't There 121
3 The Strange Case of Verbs without Subjects 127
3.1 The Quasi-Copula 129
3.2 Is and There Is 142
3.3 "Non-Euclidean" Grammars: Concerning the Rise and Fall of the Subject Postulate 152
3.4 The Unified Theory of Copular Sentences 161
3.5 There Is, or "And Yet It Moves" 171
4 Epilogues between Language and Necessity 193
4.1 The Form of Grammar: Between Linearity and Hierarchy 195
4.2 Language in the Brain 205
4.3 Losing and Acquiring the Copula 220
Afterword 233
Notes 235
Bibliography 263
Index 281
What People are Saying About This
This quest for the Holy Grail—the nature of the simple verb to be—is a remarkable tour de force.Learned and lucid, with fascinating byways to challenging problems of philosophy, linguistic theory, and the brain sciences, the journey proceeds from classical Greece to the present, finally unveiling an elegant unified theory with rich and surprising implications for the understanding of fundamental aspects of language.A major contribution, and a joy to read.
Andrea Moro has given us, with fascinating historical and philosophical background, a powerful and sustained argument in favor of the unicity of To Be.
The distinguished linguist Andrea Moro has devoted his life to the study of the verb to be. In this wonderful book, he explains the importance and interest of this topic to the nonspecialist with his characteristic style, skill, and learning. It is a gripping read, the best popular book on language I have read since Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. I recommend it to anyone interested in human language, or indeed, in human civilization in general.—Tim Crane, Professor of Philosophy, Central European University
This quest for the Holy Grail—the nature of the simple verb to be—is a remarkable tour de force. Learned and lucid, with fascinating byways to challenging problems of philosophy, linguistic theory, and the brain sciences, the journey proceeds from classical Greece to the present, finally unveiling an elegant unified theory with rich and surprising implications for the understanding of fundamental aspects of language. A major contribution, and a joy to read.
—Noam ChomskyAndrea Moro has given us, with fascinating historical and philosophical background, a powerful and sustained argument in favor of the unicity of To Be.
—Richard S. Kayne, Silver Professor, Department of Linguistics, NYU; author of The Antisymmetry of SyntaxThe distinguished linguist Andrea Moro has devoted his life to the study of the verb to be. In this wonderful book, he explains the importance and interest of this topic to the nonspecialist with his characteristic style, skill, and learning. It is a gripping read, the best popular book on language I have read since Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. I recommend it to anyone interested in human language, or indeed, in human civilization in general.
—Tim Crane, Professor of Philosophy, Central European UniversityThe distinguished linguist Andrea Moro has devoted his life to the study of the verb to be. In this wonderful book, he explains the importance and interest of this topic to the nonspecialist with his characteristic style, skill, and learning. It is a gripping read, the best popular book on language I have read since Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. I recommend it to anyone interested in human language, or indeed, in human civilization in general.