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Author : Arthur Sigismund Diamond
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 1959
Category : Historical linguistics
ISBN : UCSC:32106011860043
Author : A.S. Diamond
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2023-12-30
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9781003807681
First Published in 1959 The history and origin of language deals with one of the most important and most fascinating subject matter of all human historical problems-that of the origin and development of language. It is the first attempt to solve it, not by a priori methods, but by marshalling and analyzing the whole of the evidence. It is a work of great originality by a scholar who has written other well-known sociological works, and the treatment is that of the sociologist. Dr Diamond writes for the intelligent layman as well as the linguist. He first seeks the true nature of language and its true function and structure in modern society and traces the paths along which language has developed and changed in its known history, both in the forms of its words and in their meanings, examining for this purpose many languages of civilized and primitive peoples. These paths he then pursues backwards with the aid of data from human physiology, the language of children, and observations of animal behaviour, and shows how all these paths converge to one beginning and deduces how language originated-both the form of its first words and their meanings. He finally shows relics of these earliest words and meanings in languages which still survive. The arguments are cumulative and many sided, and the case made is convincing. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of linguistics.
Author : Géza Révész
Publisher : Greenwood
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 1970
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : UOM:39076007039162
Author : Steven Roger Fischer
Publisher : Reaktion Books
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2004-10-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781861895943
It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what language is. Steven Roger Fischer begins his book with an examination of the modes of communication used by dolphins, birds and primates as the first contexts in which the concept of "language" might be applied. As he charts the history of language from the times of Homo erectus, Neanderthal humans and Homo sapiens through to the nineteenth century, when the science of linguistics was developed, Fischer analyses the emergence of language as a science and its development as a written form. He considers the rise of pidgin, creole, jargon and slang, as well as the effects radio and television, propaganda, advertising and the media are having on language today. Looking to the future, he shows how electronic media will continue to reshape and re-invent the ways in which we communicate. "[a] delightful and unexpectedly accessible book ... a virtuoso tour of the linguistic world."—The Economist "... few who read this remarkable study will regard language in quite the same way again."—The Good Book Guide
Author : Downing A. Thomas
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 211 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1995-06-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780521473071
This study analyses reflections on music and considers ways in which it facilitates links between language and meaning.
Author : Robert C. Berwick,Noam Chomsky
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 229 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2017-05-12
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780262533492
Berwick and Chomsky draw on recent developments in linguistic theory to offer an evolutionary account of language and humans' remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire it. “A loosely connected collection of four essays that will fascinate anyone interested in the extraordinary phenomenon of language.” —New York Review of Books We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language—“the language faculty”—raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars—a computer scientist and a linguist—addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language. Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear idea of how to define “language” and therefore what it was that had evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of human language and what distinguishes us from all other animals. Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world; the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding; the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds.
Author : James R. Hurford
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2014-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780198701880
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 : Harvard Oriental Series - Opera Minora
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2023
Category : Human evolution
ISBN : 1463244959
"What can the classification of languages tell us about human origins and human prehistory? This book presents a popular account of the origin of language. It is intended for an audience with no prior knowledge of comparative linguistics, genetics or archaeology. The present volume is a reprint of the 2009 second edition of the book, and includes the text of the first edition (1994) with minor modifications, as well as the scientific evidence for monogenesis, and a Postscript recounting developments in the field since the original publication of the book"--
Author : Sverker Johansson
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 359 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2005-02-17
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027294609
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 : Jean Aitchison
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2000-05-04
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0521785715
Clear and non-technical overview of the history of language development by popular author. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Author : Arthur Sigismund Diamond
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 1965
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:1068670814
Author : Hensleigh Wedgwood
Publisher : Legare Street Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2023-07-18
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1021332437
This book presents a historical and etymological investigation into the origin of language. Using examples from multiple languages and drawing upon research from famous thinkers in the field of linguistics, Wedgwood traces the development of languages from their earliest forms. A must-read for anyone interested in the origins of human communication. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author : Wilhelm Heinrich Immanuel Bleek
Publisher : Legare Street Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2023-07-18
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1020661798
A seminal work on the history and evolution of language written by one of the most prominent linguists of the 19th century. Bleek's work draws on a wide range of linguistic, historical, and anthropological evidence to trace the development of language across human cultures, offering unique and insightful perspectives on the nature of human language and communication. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author : Merritt Ruhlen
Publisher : Wiley
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 1996-08-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0471159638
"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 : Daniel L. Everett
Publisher : Liveright Publishing
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2017-11-07
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780871404770
How Language Began revolutionizes our understanding of the one tool that has allowed us to become the "lords of the planet." Mankind has a distinct advantage over other terrestrial species: we talk to one another. But how did we acquire the most advanced form of communication on Earth? Daniel L. Everett, a “bombshell” linguist and “instant folk hero” (Tom Wolfe, Harper’s), provides in this sweeping history a comprehensive examination of the evolutionary story of language, from the earliest speaking attempts by hominids to the more than seven thousand languages that exist today. Although fossil hunters and linguists have brought us closer to unearthing the true origins of language, Daniel Everett’s discoveries have upended the contemporary linguistic world, reverberating far beyond academic circles. While conducting field research in the Amazonian rainforest, Everett came across an age-old language nestled amongst a tribe of hunter-gatherers. Challenging long-standing principles in the field, Everett now builds on the theory that language was not intrinsic to our species. In order to truly understand its origins, a more interdisciplinary approach is needed—one that accounts as much for our propensity for culture as it does our biological makeup. Language began, Everett theorizes, with Homo Erectus, who catalyzed words through culturally invented symbols. Early humans, as their brains grew larger, incorporated gestures and voice intonations to communicate, all of which built on each other for 60,000 generations. Tracing crucial shifts and developments across the ages, Everett breaks down every component of speech, from harnessing control of more than a hundred respiratory muscles in the larynx and diaphragm, to mastering the use of the tongue. Moving on from biology to execution, Everett explores why elements such as grammar and storytelling are not nearly as critical to language as one might suspect. In the book’s final section, Cultural Evolution of Language, Everett takes the ever-debated “language gap” to task, delving into the chasm that separates “us” from “the animals.” He approaches the subject from various disciplines, including anthropology, neuroscience, and archaeology, to reveal that it was social complexity, as well as cultural, physiological, and neurological superiority, that allowed humans—with our clawless hands, breakable bones, and soft skin—to become the apex predator. How Language Began ultimately explains what we know, what we’d like to know, and what we likely never will know about how humans went from mere communication to language. Based on nearly forty years of fieldwork, Everett debunks long-held theories by some of history’s greatest thinkers, from Plato to Chomsky. The result is an invaluable study of what makes us human.