The Evolutionary emergence of language : social function and the origins of linguistic form / edited by Chris Knight, Michael Studdert-Kennedy, James R. Hurford.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Knight, Chris, 1942- editor.

Studdert-Kennedy, Michael, editor.

Hurford, James R., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and languages--Origin.

Language and languages.

Anthropological linguistics.

Human evolution.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 426 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Language has no counterpart in the animal world. Unique to Homo sapiens, it appears inseparable from human nature. But how, when and why did it emerge? The contributors to this volume - linguists, anthropologists, cognitive scientists, and others - adopt a modern Darwinian perspective which offers a bold synthesis of the human and natural sciences. As a feature of human social intelligence, language evolution is driven by biologically anomalous levels of social cooperation. Phonetic competence correspondingly reflects social pressures for vocal imitation, learning, and other forms of social transmission. Distinctively human social and cultural strategies gave rise to the complex syntactical structure of speech. This book, presenting language as a remarkable social adaptation, testifies to the growing influence of evolutionary thinking in contemporary linguistics. It will be welcomed by all those interested in human evolution, evolutionary psychology, linguistic anthropology, and general linguistics.

Contents:

Language : a Darwinian adaptation? / Chris Knight, Michael Studdert-Kennedy and James R. Hurford

Introduction : the evolution of cooperative communication / Chris Knight

Comprehension, production and conventionalisation in the origins of language / Robbins Burling

Cooperation, competition and the evolution of prelinguistic communication / Jason Noble

Language and hominid politics / Jean-Louis Dessalles

Secret language use at female initiation : bounding gossiping communities / Camilla Power

Play as precursor of phonology and syntax / Chris Knight

Introduction : the emergence of phonetic structure / Michael Studdert-Kennedy

The role of mimesis in infant language development : evidence for phylogeny? / Marilyn M. Vihman and Rory A. Depaolis

Evolution of speech : the relation between ontogeny and phylogeny / Peter F. Macneilage and Barbara L. Davis

Evolutionary implications of the particulate principle : imitation and the dissociation of phonetic form from semantic function / Michael Studdert-Kennedy

Emergence of sound systems through self-organisation / Bart de Boer

Modelling language-physiology coevolution / Daniel Livingstone and Colin Fyfe

Introduction : the emergence of syntax / James R. Hurford

The spandrels of the linguistic genotype / David Lightfoot

The distinction between sentences and noun phrases : an impediment to language evolution? / Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy

How protolanguage became language / Derek Bickerton

Holistic utterances in protolanguage : the link from primates to humans / Alison Wray

Syntax without natural selection : how compositionality emerges from vocabulary in a population of learners / Simon Kirby

Social transmission favours linguistic generalisation / James R. Hurford

Words, memes and language evolution / Robert P. Worden

On the reconstruction of 'proto-world' word order / Frederick J. Newmeyer

The history, rate and pattern of world linguistic evolution / Mark Pagel.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

1-107-12919-2

1-280-42978-X

0-511-17798-4

0-511-04093-8

0-511-14847-X

0-511-32584-3

0-511-60644-3

0-511-04604-9

OCLC:

437063486