Language in the Brain.pdf

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Language in the Brain

Linguistics, neurocognition and phenomenological psychology are fundamentally

different ields of research. Helmut Schnelle’s aim is to promote an interdisciplinary

understanding of a new integrated ield in which linguists will be competent in

neurocognition and neuroscientists in structure linguistics. Consequently the irst part

of the book is a systematic introduction to the functional constitution of form and

meaning organizing brain components. The essential core elements are perceptions,

actions, attention, emotion and feeling. Their descriptions provide foundations for

experience-based semantics and pragmatics. The second part is addressed to

non-linguists and presents the structure foundations and formal presentations of

currently established linguistic frameworks. This book should be serious reading for

anyone interested in a comprehensive understanding of language, in which

evolution, functional organization and hierarchies are explained by reference to

brain architecture and dynamics.

HELMUT SCHNELLE graduated in 1957 with a degree in Physics. His Postgraduate

studies between 1958 and 1962 included cybernetics, linguistics and philosophy,

leading to the irst doctorate in philosophy on Leibniz’ de Arte Combinatoria . In 1967

he achieved his second doctorate (Dr. phil. habil.) based on the book manuscript

Prolegomena for formalization of levels of linguistics and became Full Professor of

linguistics in Berlin. He is a member of Academia Europea (London), Honorary

Member of the Cercle Linguistique de Prague and in 2000 became an Honorary

Doctor of the University of Bielefeld, Germany. He was Editor of the journal

Theoretical Linguistics between 1974 and 2000. Helmut Schnelle also organized the

irst conference about language and the brain, on the occasion of awarding an

honorary doctorate to Roman Jakobson and has since organized a “MIND/BRAIN”

Conference in Paris. He is now continuing work with the Ruhr Universität Bochum,

focusing on studying language in the brain and its organization of neural networks.

Language in the Brain

HELMUT SCHNELLE