The Evolution Of Language Out Of Pre Language

Author : Talmy Givón,Bertram F. Malle
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2002-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9027229597

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The Evolution of Language Out of Pre-language by Talmy Givón,Bertram F. Malle Pdf

The contributors to this volume are linguists, psychologists, neuroscientists, primatologists, and anthropologists who share the assumption that language, just as mind and brain, are products of biological evolution. The rise of human language is not viewed as a serendipitous mutation that gave birth to a unique linguistic organ, but as a gradual, adaptive extension of pre-existing mental capacities and brain structures. The contributors carefully study brain mechanisms, diachronic change, language acquisition, and the parallels between cognitive and linguistic structures to weave a web of hypotheses and suggestive empirical findings on the origins of language and the connections of language to other human capacities. The chapters discuss brain pathways that support linguistic processing; origins of specific linguistic features in temporal and hierarchical structures of the mind; the possible co-evolution of language and the reasoning about mental states; and the aspects of language learning that may serve as models of evolutionary change.

Author : Talmy Givón,Bertram F. Malle
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2002-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027229601

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The Evolution of Language Out of Pre-language by Talmy Givón,Bertram F. Malle Pdf

The contributors to this volume are linguists, psychologists, neuroscientists, primatologists, and anthropologists who share the assumption that language, just as mind and brain, are products of biological evolution. The rise of human language is not viewed as a serendipitous mutation that gave birth to a unique linguistic organ, but as a gradual, adaptive extension of pre-existing mental capacities and brain structures. The contributors carefully study brain mechanisms, diachronic change, language acquisition, and the parallels between cognitive and linguistic structures to weave a web of hypotheses and suggestive empirical findings on the origins of language and the connections of language to other human capacities. The chapters discuss brain pathways that support linguistic processing; origins of specific linguistic features in temporal and hierarchical structures of the mind; the possible co-evolution of language and the reasoning about mental states; and the aspects of language learning that may serve as models of evolutionary change.

Author : Wolfgang Wildgen
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2004-06-30
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9789027295453

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The Evolution of Human Language by Wolfgang Wildgen Pdf

Wolfgang Wildgen presents three perspectives on the evolution of language as a key element in the evolution of mankind in terms of the development of human symbol use. (1) He approaches this question by constructing possible scenarios in which mechanisms necessary for symbolic behavior could have developed, on the basis of the state of the art in evolutionary anthropology and genetics. (2) Non-linguistic symbolic behavior such as cave art is investigated as an important clue to the developmental background to the origin of language. Creativity and innovation and a population's ability to integrate individual experiments are considered with regard to historical examples of symbolic creativity in the visual arts and natural sciences. (3) Probable linguistic 'fossils' of such linguistic innovations are examined. The results of this study allow for new proposals for a 'protolanguage' and for a theory of language within a broader philosophical and semiotic framework, and raises interesting questions as to human consciousness, universal grammar, and linguistic methodology. (Series B)

Author : Rudolf P. Botha
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2021-11-22
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789004487208

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Unravelling the Evolution of Language by Rudolf P. Botha Pdf

What blocks the way to a better understanding of language evolution, it is widely held, is above all a paucity of factual evidence. Not so, argues Unravelling the Evolution of Language. This book finds the main obstacle, instead, in a poverty of a specific kind of theory—restrictive theory. It shows, too, that this poverty of restrictive theory is one of the root causes of the paucity of factual evidence. "Unravelling"...takes it that a theory of a thing T—for example, language—is restrictive if it gives us a basis for distinguishing T in a non-arbitrary way from all things that are in fact distinct from it, including those that happen to be related to it. The book then argues in detail that much of the recent work on language evolution proceeds from loose assumptions, rather than restrictive theories, about a number of crucial "things": The entities, prelinguistic or linguistic, that are believed to have undergone evolution; the processes by which these entities are believed to have evolved; the ways in which these (pre)linguistic entities link up with entities that are believed to be correlates of them; the sources of data that are believed to yield indirect evidence about the evolution of language; and the factors that add to or subtract from the scientific substance of accounts of language evolution. In support of its main argument, Unravelling the Evolution of Language puts forward detailed analyses of various recent accounts of language evolution, including co-optationist accounts by Noam Chomsky, Stephen Jay Gould, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini and Lyle Jenkins preadaptationist accounts by Philip Lieberman, Wendy Wilkins, Jenny Wakefield, Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, William Calvin and Derek Bickerton adaptationist accounts by Steven Pinker, Paul Bloom and others. This means that Unravelling...as it builds its main argument, also offers an appraisal of some significant contributions to recent work on language evolution.

Author : Richard K. Larson,Viviane Déprez,Hiroko Yamakido
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2010-01-07
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0521736250

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The Evolution of Human Language by Richard K. Larson,Viviane Déprez,Hiroko Yamakido Pdf

The way language as a human faculty has evolved is a question that preoccupies researchers from a wide spread of disciplines. In this book, a team of writers has been brought together to examine the evolution of language from a variety of such standpoints, including language's genetic basis, the anthropological context of its appearance, its formal structure, its relation to systems of cognition and thought, as well as its possible evolutionary antecedents. The book includes Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch's seminal and provocative essay on the subject, 'The Faculty of Language,' and charts the progress of research in this active and highly controversial field since its publication in 2002. This timely volume will be welcomed by researchers and students in a number of disciplines, including linguistics, evolutionary biology, psychology, and cognitive science.

Author : Mike Beaken
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Language and languages
ISBN : UCSC:32106013198723

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The Making of Language by Mike Beaken Pdf

An introduction to the evolution of language from gestural communication to the development of complex syntax. Beaken synthesizes advances in scientific knowledge based on archaeological and fossil evidence, primate study and new techniques in historical language analysis, and re-examines language origins from the point of view of a linguist. Countering Pinker's The Language Instinct, Beaken refutes claims for an innate biological capacity for language and demonstrates that both the origin and form of language can be explained in terms of human activity. He shows how human beings made their own language in the process of collective labour and the social interactions and relations which surround the immediate tasks for the survival of human groups.

Author : Namhee Lee,Lisa Mikesell,Anna Dina L. Joaquin,Andrea W. Mates,John H. Schumann
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2009-05-21
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780199888832

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The Interactional Instinct by Namhee Lee,Lisa Mikesell,Anna Dina L. Joaquin,Andrea W. Mates,John H. Schumann Pdf

The Interactional Instinct explores the evolution of language from the theoretical view that language could have emerged without a biologically instantiated Universal Grammar. In the first part of the book, the authors speculate that a hominid group with a lexicon of about 600 words could combine these items to make larger meanings. Combinations that are successfully produced, comprehended, and learned become part of the language. Any combination that is incompatible with human mental capacities is abandoned. The authors argue for the emergence of language structure through interaction constrained by human psychology and physiology. In the second part of the book, the authors argue that language acquisition is based on an "interactional instinct" that emotionally entrains the infant on caregivers. This relationship provides children with a motivational and attentional mechanism that ensures their acquisition of language. In adult second language acquisition, the interactional instinct is no longer operating, but in some individuals with sufficient aptitude and motivation, successful second-language acquisition can be achieved. The Interactional Instinct presents a theory of language based on linguistic, evolutionary, and biological evidence indicating that language is a culturally inherited artifact that requires no a priori hard wiring of linguistic knowledge.

Author : Géza Révész
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1956
Category : Historical linguistics
ISBN : UOM:39015077928136

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The Origins and Prehistory of Language by Géza Révész Pdf

Author : Robin Dunbar
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 353 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2011-04-07
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780571265183

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Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language by Robin Dunbar Pdf

Did mankind evolve unusually large brains simply in order to gossip? Primates differ from other animals by the intensity of their social relationships, by the amount of time they spend grooming one another. Not just a matter of hygiene, grooming is all about cementing bonds, making friends and influencing your fellow ape. Early humans, in their characteristic large groups of 150 or so, would have had to spend almost half their time in mutual grooming. Instead, Professor Robin Dunbar argues, they evolved a more efficient mechanism: language. It seems there is nothing idle about idle chatter. Having a good gossip ensures that a dynamic group - of hunter-gatherers, soldiers, workmates - remains cohesive.Men and women 'gossip' equally, but men tend to talk about themselves, while women talk more about other people, working to strengthen the female-female relationships that underpin both human and primate societies. Until now, most anthropologists have assumed that language developed in male-male relationships, during activities such as hunting. Dunbar's intriguing research suggests that, to the contrary, language evolved among women.

Author : Morten H. Christiansen,Simon Kirby
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 418 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2003-07-24
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780191581663

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Language Evolution by Morten H. Christiansen,Simon Kirby Pdf

What is it that makes us human? This is one of the most challenging and important questions we face. Our species' defining characteristic is language - we appear to be unique in the natural world in having such an incredibly open-ended system for putting thoughts into words. If we are to truly understand ourselves as a species we must understand the origins of this strange and unique ability. To do so, we need to answer some of the most intriguing questions in contemporary scientific research: Where did language come from? How did it evolve? Why are we unique in possessing it? This book, for the first time, brings together the leading thinkers who are trying to unlock the puzzle of language evolution. Here we see the latest ideas and theories from fields as diverse as anthropology, archaeology, artificial life, biology, cognitive science, linguistics, neuroscience, and psychology. In a series of seventeen well-written and accessible chapters we get an unrivalled view of the state of the art in this exciting area. Current controversies are revealed and new perspectives uncovered, in a clear and readable guide to the latest theories. This collection marks a major step forward in our quest to understand the origins and evolution of human language. In doing so it sheds new light on the process of evolution, the workings of the brain, the structure of language, and - most importantly - what it means to be human. Language Evolution is essential reading for researchers and students working in the areas covered, and has been used as a textbook for courses in the field. It will also attract the general reader who wants to know more about this fascinating subject.

Author : Ljiljana Progovac
Publisher : Springer
Page : 86 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2018-12-18
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783030032357

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A Critical Introduction to Language Evolution by Ljiljana Progovac Pdf

This book provides a critical introduction to the current views and controversies regarding language evolution. It sheds new light on hot topics such as: How ancient is language? Did Neanderthals have some form of language? Did language evolve gradually and incrementally, through stages, or suddenly, in one leap, in all its complexity? Does language evolution involve natural selection or not? This book is essential reading for scholars and students interested in language evolution, especially those in the fields of linguistics, psychology, biology, anthropology, and neuroscience.

Author : Philip Lieberman
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 398 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 1984
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0674074130

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The Biology and Evolution of Language by Philip Lieberman Pdf

This book synthesizes much of the exciting recent research in the biology of language. Drawing on data from anatomy, neurophysiology, physiology, and behavioral biology, Philip Lieberman develops a new approach to the puzzle of language, arguing that it is the result of many evolutionary compromises. Within his discussion, Lieberman skillfully addresses matters as various as the theory of neoteny (which he refutes), the mating calls of bullfrogs, ape language, dyslexia, and computer-implemented models of the brain.

Author : Rudolf Botha,Chris Knight
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2009-04-23
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780199545872

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The Prehistory of Language by Rudolf Botha,Chris Knight Pdf

Prominent linguists, cognitive scientists, archaeologists, primatologists, anthropologists, and natural scientists examine issues and advances in understanding language evolution, ranging from the co-evolution of language and music to the evolutionary biology of language. An important and stylish contribution to a fascinating area of research.

Author : Ronald Planer,Kim Sterelny
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2021-10-12
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262045971

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From Signal to Symbol by Ronald Planer,Kim Sterelny Pdf

A novel account of the evolution of language and the cognitive capacities on which language depends. In From Signal to Symbol, Ronald Planer and Kim Sterelny propose a novel theory of language: that modern language is the product of a long series of increasingly rich protolanguages evolving over the last two million years. Arguing that language and cognition coevolved, they give a central role to archaeological evidence and attempt to infer cognitive capacities on the basis of that evidence, which they link in turn to communicative capacities. Countering other accounts, which move directly from archaeological traces to language, Planer and Sterelny show that rudimentary forms of many of the elements on which language depends can be found in the great apes and were part of the equipment of the earliest species in our lineage. After outlining the constraints a theory of the evolution of language should satisfy and filling in the details of their model, they take up the evolution of words, composite utterances, and hierarchical structure. They consider the transition from a predominantly gestural to a predominantly vocal form of language and discuss the economic and social factors that led to language. Finally, they evaluate their theory in terms of the constraints previously laid out.

Author : Cedric Boeckx
Publisher : Language Science Press
Page : 76 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2024-06-02
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783961103287

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Reflections on language evolution by Cedric Boeckx Pdf

This essay reflects on the fact that as we learn more about the biological underpinnings of our language faculty, the dominant evolutionary narrative coming out of the linguistic tradition most explicitly oriented towards biology ("biolinguistics") appears increasingly implausible. This text offers ways of opening up linguistic inquiry and fostering interdisciplinarity, taking advantage of new opportunities to provide quantitative, testable hypotheses concerning the complex evolutionary path that led to the modern human language faculty. The essay is structured around three main themes: (i) renewed appreciation for the comparative method applied to cognitive questions, leading to the identification of elementary but fundamental abstractions in non-linguistic species relevant to language; (ii) awareness of the conceptual gaps between disciplines, and the need to carefully link genotype and phenotype without bypassing any "intermediate" levels of description (certainly not the brain); and (iii) adoption of a "philosophical" outlook that puts the complexity of biological entities front and center.