2024.02.26
Professor Mutsumi Imai of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies has won the Grand Prize at the Shinsho Taisho 2024.
The Shinsho Taisho is an award for new books (shinsho) sponsored by Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc., and this year marks its 17th anniversary.
From over 1,200 new books published in the year between December 2022 and November 2023, "The Essence of Language: How Language Was Born and Evolved" by Mutsumi Imai and Yoshimi Akita was selected for the Grand Prize based on the votes of 107 individuals with deep knowledge of new books, including experts, bookstore staff, shinsho editors from various publishers, and newspaper reporters.
Award-Winning Book
The Essence of Language: How Language Was Born and Evolved
By Mutsumi Imai and Yoshimi Akita
Comment from Professor Mutsumi Imai
Based on the results of experiments from many years of basic research on child language development, "The Essence of Language" proposes a hypothesis about the connection between language and the body, as well as the process of language evolution, with the cooperation of linguist Professor Akita. I am both surprised and deeply honored that this highly academic book has, through the medium of a shinsho (new book), unexpectedly found a large readership and even received the Shinsho Taisho. With generative AI drawing attention to the question of "What is language?," I hope this book will serve as an opportunity for readers to think about the essence of human language, and by extension, the essence of intelligence.
Source: General Affairs, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) Office