Toward an evolutionary biology of language / Philip Lieberman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lieberman, Philip, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biolinguistics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (449 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, [2006]

Summary:

In this forcefully argued book, the leading evolutionary theorist of language draws on evidence from evolutionary biology, genetics, physical anthropology, anatomy, and neuroscience, to provide a framework for studying the evolution of human language and cognition. Philip Lieberman argues forcibly that the widely influential theories of language's development, advanced by Chomskian linguists and cognitive scientists, especially those that postulate a single dedicated language "module," "organ," or "instinct," are inconsistent with principles and findings of evolutionary biology and neuroscience. He argues that the human neural system in its totality is the basis for the human language ability, for it requires the coordination of neural circuits that regulate motor control with memory and higher cognitive functions. Pointing out that articulate speech is a remarkably efficient means of conveying information, Lieberman also highlights the adaptive significance of the human tongue. Fully human language involves the species-specific anatomy of speech, together with the neural capacity for thought and movement. In Lieberman's iconoclastic Darwinian view, the human language ability is the confluence of a succession of separate evolutionary developments, jury-rigged by natural selection to work together for an evolutionarily unique ability.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

CHAPTER 1 The Mark of Evolution

CHAPTER 2 Primitive and Derived Features of Language

CHAPTER 3 The Singularity of Speech

CHAPTER 4 The Neural Bases of Language

CHAPTER 5 Motor Control and the Evolution of Language

CHAPTER 6 The Gift of Tongue

CHAPTER 7 Linguistic Issues

CHAPTER 8 Where We Might Go

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674274839

0674274830

OCLC:

1286428081