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This is a group of twenty-five brief essays on human language and communication written by distinguished experts in psychology, linguistics,
neurology, education, and animal behavior. Originally prepared for a series of half hour Voice of America radio lectures entitled Psychology and Communication, the papers offer the general reader a simple but comprehensive introduction to the structure, organization, and physiological basis of the unique communicational system employed by man.
A number of the essays deal with linguistic organization. Interestingly, only Miller, the editor of the book, goes beyond the phonemic, syntactic, and semantic aspects of language to consider the attitudes and beliefs underlying human thought and conceptualization. These essays are edifying, although the degree of repetition is a bit wearisome. A second theme centers about the unique neurophysiological structures which restrict to our species alone the capacity for complex vocal communication. The uniqueness of human communication is highlighted by comparing it with that of lower primates and some other animals. Other papers in the volume cover language development, the connection between language and a number of key cognitive functions, mechanical simulation of human speech, and certain special aspects of communication among and within groups of people.
The emphasis throughout the book is upon structure and function rather than upon the motivational and dynamic forces with which the psychoanalyst is primarily concerned. The orientation is toward academic rather than depth psychology. There is material in this book of interest to a psychoanalyst, but it is on a relatively simple, introductory level that whets the appetite without fully satisfying it. It should appeal to the psychoanalyst's general interest in reading about related fields rather than offering him information of practical value for his everyday work.