The Psychology of Language: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics and Generative Grammar by J. A. Fodor, T. G. Bever, and M. F. Garrett (review)

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE: AN INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLINGUISTICS AND GENERATIVE GRAMMAR BY J. A. FODOR, T. G. BEVER, AND M. F. GARRETT (N. Y.: McGraw-Hill, 1974. 537 pages including bibliography and index.) Certain subject-matter areas are difficult to present in textbook form, not because they are difficult to sum up, but because they are difficult to sum up calmly. A prime example is the mentalismversus -behaviorism question as characterized by linguists committed to the former model. There is a marked tendency to depict behaviorism as a yellow slime of error in which the U. S. lies helpless, unable to think coherently about language. Moreover, the preoccupation with the various sins of behaviorists can take up space needed for the discussion of concrete problems in linguistics (a spectacular example is Conrad Diller's Structuralism, Generative Grammar and Language Learning). As a result, many nonlinguists probably believe that the principal activity of linguists is to think angrily about the harm done by behaviorism. Fodor, Bever, and Garrett are, clearly, out to win readers over to an acceptance of the transformationalists' view of the matter. Yet, remarkably little space is given over to public excoriation of behaviorists. Rather, the authors confront the issue early by stating that behavioristic models may be successful in accounting for certain behaviors (notably those low on the hierarchy) but "there are describable behavioral repetoires which cannot be captured by such theories" (xv). Since language production and perception are prominent examples, "Psycholinguistics may then be taken as something of a test case for the possibility of an experimental mentalism" (xvii). The text which follows is equally orderly and restrained. The authors first present fundamental notions of generative grammar; then provide a discussion of semantics; treat the issue of psychological reality; describe sentence production and reception and sum up work in child language acquisition. There is a good sensitivity to what is not apt to trouble students. While many linguistics textbooks alarm readers by assuming an ability to grasp representational systems, this text takes care to explain how one moves from the sentence in question to its representation in diagram orotherform. One sees evidence of an effort to limit the density of the metalanguage and to refer to research projects whose purpose will be immediately graspable to readers. In short, it is an introductory work written so as to include, rather than frustrate, readers needing an introduction to the topic. NAOMI LINDSTROM* •NAOMI LINDSTROM teaches Spanish language and Latin American literature at the University of Texas, Austin, and is the author of Literary Expressionism in Argentina (1978). 160VOL 34. NO 2(SPRING 1980) ...