Language Origins

Author : Sverker Johansson
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 359 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2005-02-17
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027294609

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Origins of Language by Sverker Johansson Pdf

Sverker Johansson has written an unusual book on language origins, with its emphasis on empirical evidence rather than theory-building. This is a book for the student or researcher who prefers solid data and well-supported conclusions, over speculative scenarios. Much that has been written on the origins of language is characterized by hypothesizing largely unconstrained by evidence. But empirical data do exist, and the purpose of this book is to integrate and review the available evidence from all relevant disciplines, not only linguistics but also, e.g., neurology, primatology, paleoanthropology, and evolutionary biology. The evidence is then used to constrain the multitude of scenarios for language origins, demonstrating that many popular hypotheses are untenable. Among the issues covered: (1) Human evolutionary history, (2) Anatomical prerequisites for language, (3) Animal communication and ape "language", (4) Mind and language, (5) The role of gesture, (6) Innateness, (7) Selective advantage of language, (8) Proto-language.

Author : Angela D. Friederici
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2017-11-16
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780262036924

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Language in Our Brain by Angela D. Friederici Pdf

A comprehensive account of the neurobiological basis of language, arguing that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Language makes us human. It is an intrinsic part of us, although we seldom think about it. Language is also an extremely complex entity with subcomponents responsible for its phonological, syntactic, and semantic aspects. In this landmark work, Angela Friederici offers a comprehensive account of these subcomponents and how they are integrated. Tracing the neurobiological basis of language across brain regions in humans and other primate species, she argues that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Friederici shows which brain regions support the different language processes and, more important, how these brain regions are connected structurally and functionally to make language processes that take place in milliseconds possible. She finds that one particular brain structure (a white matter dorsal tract), connecting syntax-relevant brain regions, is present only in the mature human brain and only weakly present in other primate brains. Is this the “missing link” that explains humans' capacity for language? Friederici describes the basic language functions and their brain basis; the language networks connecting different language-related brain regions; the brain basis of language acquisition during early childhood and when learning a second language, proposing a neurocognitive model of the ontogeny of language; and the evolution of language and underlying neural constraints. She finds that it is the information exchange between the relevant brain regions, supported by the white matter tract, that is the crucial factor in both language development and evolution.

Author : Walburga von Raffler-Engel,Jan Wind,Abraham Jonker
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 1991-08-22
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027274281

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Studies in Language Origins by Walburga von Raffler-Engel,Jan Wind,Abraham Jonker Pdf

The question of language origin has fascinated people for years. The contributions in the present book stem primarely from the papers presented at the Third International Meeting of the Language Origins Society (LOS) held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, June 1988. The contributors approach the problem not only from the viewpoint of linguistics, but also from that of anatomy, physiology, social sciences, physical anthropology, paleoanthropology, paleontology, comparative zoology, general biology, ethology, evolutionary biology and psychology.

Author : Peter Schrijver
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2013-12-04
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781134254484

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Language Contact and the Origins of the Germanic Languages by Peter Schrijver Pdf

History, archaeology, and human evolutionary genetics provide us with an increasingly detailed view of the origins and development of the peoples that live in Northwestern Europe. This book aims to restore the key position of historical linguistics in this debate by treating the history of the Germanic languages as a history of its speakers. It focuses on the role that language contact has played in creating the Germanic languages, between the first millennium BC and the crucially important early medieval period. Chapters on the origins of English, German, Dutch, and the Germanic language family as a whole illustrate how the history of the sounds of these languages provide a key that unlocks the secret of their genesis: speakers of Latin, Celtic and Balto-Finnic switched to speaking Germanic and in the process introduced a 'foreign accent' that caught on and spread at the expense of types of Germanic that were not affected by foreign influence. The book is aimed at linguists, historians, archaeologists and anyone who is interested in what languages can tell us about the origins of their speakers.

Author : Downing A. Thomas
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 211 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1995-06-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780521473071

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Music and the Origins of Language by Downing A. Thomas Pdf

This study analyses reflections on music and considers ways in which it facilitates links between language and meaning.

Author : Claire Lefebvre,Bernard Comrie,Henri Cohen
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 600 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2013-11-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027271136

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New Perspectives on the Origins of Language by Claire Lefebvre,Bernard Comrie,Henri Cohen Pdf

The question of how language emerged is one of the most fascinating and difficult problems in science. In recent years, a strong resurgence of interest in the emergence of language from an evolutionary perspective has been helped by the convergence of approaches, methods, and ideas from several disciplines. The selection of contributions in this volume highlight scenarios of language origin and the prerequisites for a faculty of language based on biological, historical, social, cultural, and paleontological forays into the conditions that brought forth and favored language emergence, augmented by insights from sister disciplines. The chapters all reflect new speculation, discoveries and more refined research methods leading to a more focused understanding of the range of possibilities and how we might choose among them. There is much that we do not yet know, but the outlines of the path ahead are ever clearer.

Author : Walburga von Raffler-Engel,Jan Wind,Abraham Jonker
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 1556190786

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Studies in Language Origins by Walburga von Raffler-Engel,Jan Wind,Abraham Jonker Pdf

The question of language origin has fascinated people for years. The contributions in the present book stem primarely from the papers presented at the Third International Meeting of the Language Origins Society (LOS) held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, June 1988. The contributors approach the problem not only from the viewpoint of linguistics, but also from that of anatomy, physiology, social sciences, physical anthropology, paleoanthropology, paleontology, comparative zoology, general biology, ethology, evolutionary biology and psychology.

Author : James R. Hurford
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2014-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780198701880

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Origins of Language by James R. Hurford Pdf

This book offers an accessible overview of what is known about the evolution of the human capacity for language and what sets human language apart from the simple communication systems used by non-human animals. It draws on a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, neuroscience, genetics, and animal behaviour.

Author : Merritt Ruhlen
Publisher : Wiley
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 1996-08-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0471159638

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The Origin of Language by Merritt Ruhlen Pdf

"Ruhlen is a leader in the new attempt to unify the theory of language development and diffusion."––Library Journal "A powerful statement...also a wonderfully clear exposition of linguistic thinking about prehistory."––Anthropological Science One of the world's foremost language researchers takes readers step-by-step through the hotly contested evidence that all modern languages derive from one "mother tongue" once spoken by primitive humans in Africa. With The Origin of Language, Merritt Ruhlen makes this fascinating science accessible to readers with no linguistic background. MERRITT RUHLEN, PhD (Palo Alto, California) is the author of A Guide to the World's Languages

Author : Jacob Grimm
Publisher : Brill Archive
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 1984
Category : Langage et langues
ISBN : 9004070583

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On the Origin of Language by Jacob Grimm Pdf

Author : John Forrester
Publisher : Springer
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1980-06-18
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781349044450

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Language and the Origins of Psychoanalysis by John Forrester Pdf

Author : Nobuo Masataka
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2020-06-11
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789811542503

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The Origins of Language Revisited by Nobuo Masataka Pdf

This book summarizes the latest research on the origins of language, with a focus on the process of evolution and differentiation of language. It provides an update on the earlier successful book, “The Origins of Language” edited by Nobuo Masataka and published in 2008, with new content on emerging topics. Drawing on the empirical evidence in each respective chapter, the editor presents a coherent account of how language evolved, how music differentiated from language, and how humans finally became neurodivergent as a species. Chapters on nonhuman primate communication reveal that the evolution of language required the neural rewiring of circuits that controlled vocalization. Language contributed not only to the differentiation of our conceptual ability but also to the differentiation of psychic functions of concepts, emotion, and behavior. It is noteworthy that a rudimentary form of syntax (regularity of call sequences) has emerged in nonhuman primates. The following chapters explain how music differentiated from language, whereas the pre-linguistic system, or the “prosodic protolanguage,” in nonhuman primates provided a precursor for both language and music. Readers will gain a new understanding of music as a rudimentary form of language that has been discarded in the course of evolution and its role in restoring the primordial synthesis in the human psyche. The discussion leads to an inspiring insight into autism and neurodiversity in humans. This thought-provoking and carefully presented book will appeal to a wide range of readers in linguistics, psychology, phonology, biology, anthropology and music.

Author : Robert M. Seyfarth,Dorothy L. Cheney
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 179 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2017-12-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781400888146

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The Social Origins of Language by Robert M. Seyfarth,Dorothy L. Cheney Pdf

How human language evolved from the need for social communication The origins of human language remain hotly debated. Despite growing appreciation of cognitive and neural continuity between humans and other animals, an evolutionary account of human language—in its modern form—remains as elusive as ever. The Social Origins of Language provides a novel perspective on this question and charts a new path toward its resolution. In the lead essay, Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney draw on their decades-long pioneering research on monkeys and baboons in the wild to show how primates use vocalizations to modulate social dynamics. They argue that key elements of human language emerged from the need to decipher and encode complex social interactions. In other words, social communication is the biological foundation upon which evolution built more complex language. Seyfarth and Cheney’s argument serves as a jumping-off point for responses by John McWhorter, Ljiljana Progovac, Jennifer E. Arnold, Benjamin Wilson, Christopher I. Petkov and Peter Godfrey-Smith, each of whom draw on their respective expertise in linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. Michael Platt provides an introduction, Seyfarth and Cheney a concluding essay. Ultimately, The Social Origins of Language offers thought-provoking viewpoints on how human language evolved.

Author : Géza Révész
Publisher : Greenwood
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 1970
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : UOM:39076007039162

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The Origins and Prehistory of Language by Géza Révész Pdf

Author : Sverker Johansson
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 358 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2005-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027238931

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Origins of Language by Sverker Johansson Pdf

Sverker Johansson has written an unusual book on language origins, with its emphasis on empirical evidence rather than theory-building. This is a book for the student or researcher who prefers solid data and well-supported conclusions, over speculative scenarios. Much that has been written on the origins of language is characterized by hypothesizing largely unconstrained by evidence. But empirical data do exist, and the purpose of this book is to integrate and review the available evidence from all relevant disciplines, not only linguistics but also, e.g., neurology, primatology, paleoanthropology, and evolutionary biology. The evidence is then used to constrain the multitude of scenarios for language origins, demonstrating that many popular hypotheses are untenable. Among the issues covered: (1) Human evolutionary history, (2) Anatomical prerequisites for language, (3) Animal communication and ape "language", (4) Mind and language, (5) The role of gesture, (6) Innateness, (7) Selective advantage of language, (8) Proto-language.