Language Evolution

Erscheinungsjahr 2003
ISBN: 978-0-19-924483-6
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 414 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 787 g

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kirby, Simon

Christiansen, Morten H.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Phonetik, Phonologie, Prosodie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften Sprachphilosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Kognitionspsychologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Humanbiologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Historische & Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sprachphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Morten H. Christiansen and Simon Kirby: Language Evolution: The Hardest Problem in Science?

- 2: Steven Pinker: Language as an Adaptation to the Cognitive Niche

- 3: James Hurford: The Language Mosaic and its Evolution

- 4: Frederick J. Newmeyer: What can the Field of Linguistics Tell Us About the Origins of Language?

- 5: Derek Bickerton: Symbol and Structure: A Comprehensive Framework for Language Evolution

- 6: Michael Tomasello: On the Different Origins of Symbols and Grammar

- 7: Terrence W. Deacon: Universal Grammar and Semiotic Constraints

- 8: Iain Davidson: The Archaeological Evidence of Language Origins: States of the Art

- 9: Marc D. Hauser and W. Tecumseh Fitch: What are the Uniquely Human Components of the Language Faculty?

- 10: Michael A. Arbib: The Evolving Mirror System: A Neural Basis for Language Readiness

- 11: Michael C. Corballis: From Hand to Mouth: the Gestural Origins of Language

- 12: Robin I. M. Dunbar: The Origin and Subsequent Evolution of Language

- 13: Michael Studdert-Kennedy and Louis Goldstein: Launching Language: the Gestural Origin of Discrete Infinity

- 14: Philip Lieberman: Motor Control, Speech, and the Evolution of Human Language

- 15: Simon Kirby and Morten H. Christiansen: From Language Learning to Language Evolution

- 16: Ted Briscoe: Grammatical Assimilation

- 17: Natalia L. Komarova and Martin A. Nowak: Language, Learning, and Evolution

Über Autor(innen)

Morten H. Christiansen is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. He is co-editor of Connectionist Psycholinguistics published by Ablex in 2001.

Simon Kirby is a British Academy Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh: his book, Function, Selection, and Innateness was published by OUP in 1999.