| I give my warm thanks to the former colleagues, and other friends, with whom over so many years I have spent so many stimulating hours debating language. Among these I would particularly like to mention Michael McCarthy and David Bond, who were unfailing in their sympathetic encouragement of my urge to question. David I thank too, very specially, for always thinking of me whenever he came across something he thought might interest or provoke me. |
| As much as anybody I thank my son, Terence Gethin, for all the care he devoted to his judgements on the manuscript, and for his objective criticism, advice, and rationality. |
| And without the constant support and concern of my wife, Mieko Suzuki-Gethin, I should never have completed the task. |
| I owe a great debt to John Lennox Cook for providing, over many years, a place of work without fashionable preconceptions where I could think freely about language. |
| My gratitude also goes to Erich Mller and irene Marti, to Agnese, Arianna, Edo, Ida, Luca and Silio Masi, to Paul Mlynek, to Gerhard Prawda, Ingrid Freidl, Felix, and Rhea, and to Giorgia, Metello and Paola Tacconi, for making life so good for us during what were perhaps the most important stages of writing this book. |
| I dedicate this book to Pod and to the memory of Tora and Bobi. |
 | AMOREY GETHIN
SASSO PISANO - JUNE 1989 |
| This is a greatly shortened version of the book originally published in 1990 under the title Antilinguistics. Most of the detailed discussion of linguistics has been removed. On the other hand, I have added some new material in order to make critical comment on Steven Pinker's book The language instinct. |
| Since the publication of the first edition I have had unfailing support, both moral and practical, from three friends, Erik Gunnemark, Yasuko Murata, and my publisher Masoud Yazdani. I want to record my deep gratitude to them for their encouragement. |
| My thanks also go to my old colleague Ivor Pemberton, ever willing to undertake, as an act of friendship, the chore of going through my manuscripts to check for mistakes and obscurities. |
| My wife has sustained me as always, book or no book in the making. My debt to her is unrepayable. |
| AMOREY GETHIN
CAMBRIDGE - JANUARY 1998 |
|
