Customer Reviews

Using Language

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
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This is a dense, important, juicy, rewarding book. Clark builds a convincing umbrella theory of language usage. The beauty is in the details, however, as he builds up concept after concept working with the simplest of actual language examples. Joint projects, common ground, grounding, layering, double tracking are some of the top level gems that popped out at me as he demonstrated them. But Clark finds little regularities, rules, and trade-offs at all levels. Every couple of pages brought out a new generality or a new insight. The book made me work and think a lot, but it was hugely worth it. Clark is very clear that his theory is about the usage rather than the structure of language. All us conversationalists know that there are tons of little messages and social adjustments in every utterance; Clark brings these situations and language strategies out like walking into a planetarium to see stars.

I have already read some Clark's papers. This book collects a lot of the themes the researcher has developed during his studies.

A very comprehensive and insightful book. Also, Clark is a fantastic writer. The focus of the book is on language, but I found it very useful for my own thinking (I'm a social psychologist interested in moral judgment and decision-making).

Using Language is a great way to learn more of what you didn't know you already know about language and the mind.