Topics

AdministrationViolenceSupervisionLeadership

Adult EducationCorp. Training and Continuing Ed.LiteracyTransformative Learning

Assessment & EvaluationProgram EvaluationAlternative AssessmentGradingStandardized Testing

Social ContextHistory of SchoolingPhilosophyUrban EducationEconomics and School-to-workRural EducationSociology of EducationWar and EducationPost-Industrial Education

CounselingSecondary SchoolsCollege Advising

CurriculumControlArtsSocial StudiesHealth and NutritionLanguage ArtsMathematicsPeace StudiesScience

DiversityRace and EthnicityAt-Risk StudentsSpecial NeedsGender and Sexuality

Early Childhood EducationPre-School and Child CareEarly Childhood Development

Higher EducationAdmissions and TuitionFacultyStudent and Community Life

International EducationComparative EducationEducational Development

LearningCognitionParental InfluenceEducational Psychology

PolicyReformCharters & VouchersHigh-Stakes TestingStandardsAthletes and AcademicsDropoutsIndependent SchoolsPhilanthropyPoliticsReligionTracking

Research MethodsQualitative MethodsSurvey ResearchExperimental ResearchLibrariesWriting for Publication

Teacher EducationProfessional DevelopmentSchools of EducationStudent Teaching

TeachingTeaching ProfessionSupply and DemandWorking Conditions

TechnologyTechnology in the ClassroomDistance LearningTechnology EducationPublishing and CommunicationOnline Publishing

IntersectionsPolicy and Teaching Practice

Discussion
We All Care...But Are We Ready to Act? Bravo, Susan! Re: Great review, but are we really that stuck on style? Transfer Function of the CC Redding: A good decision from an almost united Supreme Court
more >>

Announcements

Call for Papers: International Visual Sociology Association

CALL 4 PROPOSALS: ASSOC. OF RAZA EDUCATORS conference

MAXINE GREENE TRIBUTE NOW ONLINE -- Journal of Educational Controversy

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS

Call for Submissions: Academic Exchange Quarterly

CFP: Teachers as Researchers Conference

ToC & CfP: BJSEP

make a post | more >>

The Prism of Grammar: How Child Language Illuminates Humanism

reviewed by William O�Grady � October 25, 2007

Title: The Prism of Grammar: How Child Language Illuminates Humanism
Author(s): Tom Roeper
Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge
ISBN: 0262182521, Pages: 355, Year: 2007
Search for book at Amazon.com

At a number of points in this unique book, Tom Roeper observes that an essential feature of language is the capacity for recursion, the capacity to reproduce something inside itself. The Prism of Grammar is itself an exercise in recursion—a book about language acquisition, inside a book about language, inside a book about humanism. Roeper introduces the humanist orientation of his work in the first chapter, outlining his commitment “to confront the great issues of the age, the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’ of linguistics and of life” (p. 4)—a theme to which he returns at greater length in the book’s final four chapters, which are grouped together in a section entitled “Finding Philosophy and Morality in Every Sentence.” His central thesis is that respect for human dignity must be paramount (p. 296) and that science incompatible with this ideal should be suspect. The science of language that Roeper envisions and... (preview truncated at 150 words.)

To view the full-text for this article you must be signed-in with the appropropriate membership. Please review your options below:

Cite This Article as: Teachers College Record, Date Published: October 25, 2007
http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 14686, Date Accessed: 2/9/2010 12:16:59 PM

Purchase Reprint Rights for this article or review

Article Tools
Email this article Print this article Post a Comment

Related Discussion

Post a Comment \| Read All

About the Author
William O�Grady University of Hawaii E-mail Author WILLIAM O�GRADY, professor of linguistics at the University of Hawaii, has a long-standing interest in language acquisition and has written extensively on the subject. His recent publications include How Children Learn Language (Cambridge, 2005) and Syntactic Carpentry (Erlbaum, 2005).

Member Center
	Welcome! Sign-in Submit My Work TCR @ Your Library Book Reviews @ Your Library

In Print

This Month's Issue
Back Issues:

Friends