THE TRANSITION TO LANGUAGE by Alison Wray (Editor) ( 9780199250660 )

Item Details

Title:

THE TRANSITION TO LANGUAGE

By:

Alison Wray (Editor)

Format:

Paperback

List price:

£47.49

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£41.55

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£5.94

ISBN 10:

0199250669

ISBN 13:

9780199250660

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Publisher:

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

21 March, 2002

Series:

Studies in the Evolution of Language 2

Pages:

424

Description:

Linguists, biological anthropologists, and cognitive scientists come together in this book to explore the origins and early evolution of phonology, syntax, and semantics. They consider the nature of pre- and proto-linguistic communication, the internal and external triggers that led to its transformation into language, and whether and how language may be considered to have evolved after its inception. Evidence is drawn from many domains, including computersimulations of language emergence, the songs of finches, problem-solving abilities in monkeys, sign language, and the structure of languages today.

Synopsis:

The evolutionary emergence of each facet of human language can be viewed as a 'transition'. This book explores how different transitions took place, their preconditions, and their consequences. Among the questions it addresses are: what physiological and psychological differences between us and other animals lie at the heart of our superior capacity for language? Was the pre-linguistic period of humankind characterized by words without syntax, syntax without meaning, gesture without speech, or all, or none, of these? Once a community is ready and able to develop language, what internal and external factors trigger its emergence? How are we to interpret the archaeological evidence of early tool-making abilities, relative to the presence, or absence, of language? In what social circumstances could language have avoided being immediately harnessed for deception, so that it became too dangerous and unreliable to be of value? Was the universal form of language determined by pre-existing psychological capabilities, or by natural constraints in communication? Has language finished evolving?If not, how different were linguistic structures used by our early ancestors from those that we use today? This investigation into one of the enduring mysteries of humankind brings together original contributions from linguists, archaeologists, anthropologists, psychologists, biologists, primatologists, and researchers in artificial intelligence. They offer the reader up-to-the-minute debates in the field of language evolution.

Illustrations:

numerous figures and tables

Publication:

Imprint:

Oxford University Press

Returns:

Returnable

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