Editions

  • The Language Instinct
    Paperback 2015
  • The Language Instinct
    eBook 2003
Penguin Logo
  • Articles, Games and more...

    Articles
    • Recommendations
    • Features
    • Extracts
    • Quizzes
    • View all articles
    Children's articles
    • Recommendations
    • Extracts
    • Games & activities
    • Quizzes
    • View all children's articles
    Penguin Shop
    • Book bundles
      Book bundles
    • Penguin gifts
      Penguin gifts
    • Signed & special editions
      Signed & special editions
    • Writing workshops
      Writing workshops
    • View all
      View all

    • Events
    • Podcasts
    • Apps
    • Newsletter

    • Penguin Classics
    • VINTAGE
  • Categories

    Fiction
    • Action & adventure
    • Classics
    • Crime, thrillers & mysteries
    • General & literary fiction
    • Graphic novels
    • Romance
    • Poetry
    • Horror
    • Short stories
    • View all fiction
    Non-fiction
    • Art, architecture & photography
    • Biographies
    • Business, economics & law
    • Food & drink
    • Health & lifestyle
    • History
    • Politics, philosophy & culture
    • Science & nature
    • Sports
    • View all non-fiction
    Children's
    • 0 - 18 months
    • 18 months - 3 years
    • 3 - 5 years
    • 5 - 7 years
    • 7 - 9 years
    • 9 - 12 years
    • View all children's

    • Puffin

      Puffin

    • Ladybird

      Ladybird


    • Audiobooks
    • Gifts & box sets
    • Must-read books of 2019
    • 100 must-read classic books
  • Authors A-Z

    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
    • N
    • O
    • P
    • Q
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • U
    • V
    • W
    • X
    • Y
    • Z
    • All Authors A-Z


    Featured Authors

    Philip Pullman

    Margaret Atwood

    Lee Child

    Jacqueline Wilson

    Ian McEwan

    Naomi Klein

    Malcolm Gladwell

    Toni Morrison

  • About Penguin Random House UK

    About Us
    • Overview
    • Company history
    • Leadership Team
    • News
    • Blogs
    Work with us
    • Authors
    • Careers
    • Rights and permissions
    • Penguin Connect
    • Partnerships
    • Penguin Ventures
    • Sales & distribution
    • Student Design Award
    Publishing houses
    • Cornerstone
    • Ebury
    • Michael Joseph
    • Penguin General
    • Penguin Press
    • Penguin Random House Audio
    • Penguin Random House Children's
    • Transworld
    • VINTAGE
    Creative Responsibility
    • About Creative Responsibility
    • Reading
    • Community
    • Inclusion
    • Sustainability
    • WriteNow
    • Penguin Talks
    Contact us
    • Offices
    • Media contacts
    • Catalogues
  • Gifts for bibliophiles

    Penguin's Christmas Gift Guide
    • Beautiful gift books
    • Festive Christmas stories
    • Books for your secret santa
    • Best books for children
    • Must-read celebrity memoirs of 2019
    • The biggest books of 2019
    • View all
    Penguin Shop
    • Penguin gifts
      Penguin gifts
    • Book bundles
      Book bundles
    • Special and signed editions
      Special and signed editions
    • Writing workshop
      Writing workshop
    • View all
      View all

  • Home
  • The Language Instinct
The Language Instinct
  • Imprint: Penguin

  • Published: 02/04/2015

  • ISBN: 9780141980775

  • Length: 528  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 23mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 362g

  • RRP: £10.99

The Language Instinct

  • How the Mind Creates Language

Steven Pinker

  • Paperback
  • Ebook
  • Hive Waterstones Amazon

'Dazzling... Pinker's big idea is that language is an instinct...as innate to us as flying is to geese... Words can hardly do justice to the superlative range and liveliness of Pinker's investigations'
- Independent

'A marvellously readable book... illuminates every facet of human language: its biological origin, its uniqueness to humanity, it acquisition by children, its grammatical structure, the production and perception of speech, the pathology of language disorders and the unstoppable evolution of languages and dialects' - Nature

  • Imprint: Penguin

  • Published: 02/04/2015

  • ISBN: 9780141980775

  • Length: 528  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 23mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 362g

  • RRP: £10.99


  • Share at

  • Facebook - facebook Facebook - facebook Facebook - facebook Facebook - facebook
  • Twitter - twitter Twitter - twitter Twitter - twitter Twitter - twitter
  • Pinterest - pinterest Pinterest - pinterest
  • Email - email Email - email
  • Whatsapp - whatsapp Whatsapp - whatsapp

More from this Author

View all View all
  • Enlightenment Now
    Enlightenment Now
    • Steven Pinker
  • The Sense of Style
    The Sense of Style
    • Steven Pinker
  • How the Mind Works
    How the Mind Works
    • Steven Pinker
  • The Better Angels of Our Nature
    The Better Angels of Our Nature
    • Steven Pinker
  • The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television
    The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television
    • Steven Pinker
  • The Stuff of Thought
    The Stuff of Thought
    • Steven Pinker
  • The Blank Slate
    The Blank Slate
    • Steven Pinker
View all View all

About the Author

Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker is one of the world's most influential thinkers and writers on the human condition. His popular and highly praised books include The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, The Stuff of Thought, The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, and The Language Instinct. The recipient of several major awards for his teaching, books, and scientific research, Pinker is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He also writes frequently for The New York Times, the Guardian and other publications. He has been named Humanist of the Year, Prospect magazine's "The World's Top 100 Public Intellectuals," Foreign Policy's "100 Global Thinkers," and Time magazine's "The 100 Most Influential People in the World Today."

Steven Pinker

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, offers and more 

  • Please enter an email.

    Please enter a valid email address.

By signing up, I confirm that I'm over 16. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy

Thank you for signing up to the Penguin Newsletter

Keep an eye out in your inbox.

Oops! it seems you've already subscribed to this newsletter. View all newsletter

Subscription failed, please try again

About us
  • Our company
  • Work with us
  • Getting published external-link-icon
  • Careers
  • Publishing houses
  • Creative Responsibility
  • Contact us
  • Send website feedback
Useful links
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & conditions
  • Help & FAQs
  • Gender pay gap reports
  • Industry commitment to professional behaviour
  • Permissions
Stay connected

Follow Penguin

  • Facebook Facebook
  • Instagram Instagram
  • Twitter Twitter
  • Youtube Youtube

Follow Puffin

  • Puffin Facebook Puffin Facebook
  • Puffin Instagram Puffin Instagram
  • Puffin Twitter Puffin Twitter
  • Puffin YouTube Puffin YouTube

Follow Ladybird

  • Ladybird Facebook Ladybird Facebook
  • Ladybird Instagram Ladybird Instagram
  • Ladybird Twitter Ladybird Twitter
  • Ladybird YouTube Ladybird YouTube

© 1995 - 2019

Penguin Books Ltd.

Registered number: 861590 England.

Registered office: 80 Strand, London,

WC2R 0RL UK.

Penguin Random House

Penguin Books Limited

A Penguin Random House Company.

We use cookies on this site and by continuing to browse it you agree to us sending you cookies.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here.