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Language Origins
Perspectives on Evolution
Maggie Tallerman
446 pages
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234x156mm
978-0-19-927904-3
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Paperback
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26 May 2005
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This item is printed to order. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.
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- Latest developments in a thriving cross-disciplinary project
- Informed by most recent research, including artificial intelligence and neuroscience
- Supported by empirical methods and data
- Covers all aspects of language evolution, including speech, syntax, and the learnability and diversity of language
- Analogous and homologous traits in other species
This book addresses central questions in the evolution of language: where it came from; how it relates to primate communication; how and why it evolved; how it came to be culturally transmitted; and how languages diversified. The chapters are written from the perspective of the latest work in linguistics, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science, and reflect the idea that various cognitive, physical, neurological, social, and cultural prerequisites led to the development of full human language. Some of these evolutionary changes were preadaptations for language, while others were adaptive changes allowing the development of particular linguistic characteristics.
The authors consider a broad spectrum of ideas about the conditions that led to the evolution of protolanguage and full language. Some examine changes that occurred in the course of evolution to Homo sapiens; others consider how languages themselves have adapted by evolving to be learnable. Some chapters look at the workings of the brain, and others deploy sophisticated computer simulations that model such aspects as the emergence of speech sounds and the development of grammar. All make use of the latest methods and theories to probe into the origins and subsequent development of the only species that has language.
The book will interest a wide range of linguists, cognitive scientists, biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and experts in artificial
intelligence, as well as all those fascinated by issues, puzzles, and problems raised by the evolution of language. Readership: Linguists, phoneticians, biologists, psychologists, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethologists, neuroscientists, specialists in AI, and computer scientists, plus their advanced students. Will also interest the dedicated general reader.
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Maggie Tallerman, Professor of Linguistics, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Contributors:
Michael Arbib, University of Southern California
Bart de Boer, University of Groningen
Henry Brighton, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Ted Briscoe, University of Cambridge
Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, University of Canterbury
Nick Chater, Universityof Warwick
Bernard Comrie, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Shimon Edelman, Cornell University
Bradley Franks, London School of Economics and Politics
David Horn, University of Tel
Aviv
James Hurford, University of Edinburgh
Simon Kirby, University of Edinburgh
Tania Kuteva, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Dana McDaniel, University of Southern Maine
Luca Onnis, Cornell University
Pierr-Yves Oudeyer, Sony CSL Paris
Irene Maxine Pepperberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University
Kate Rigby, London School of Economics and Politics
Matthew Roberts, University of Warwick
Eytan Ruppin, Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences Institute
Andrew D. M. Smith,
Kenny Smith, University of Edinburgh
Zach Solan, Tel-Aviv University
Michael Studdert-Kennedy, Yale University
Alison Wray, University
of Cardiff
Klaus Zuberbühler, University of St Andrews
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"...will interest a wide range of linguists, cognitive scientists, biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and experts in artificial intelligence, as well as those fascinated by issues, puzzles, and problems raised by the evolution of language." - Folia Linguistica "...obligatory reading..." - Derek Bickerton, Journal of Linguistics, vol. 43 "Given the range of this volume, the scope of its potential readership, and the cross-disciplinary nature of the contributions, there are significant editorial challenges to which Maggie Tallerman has risen...this is a timely volume which lives up to its aim of informing on the latest developments in what is considered to be a thriving cross-disciplinary
field." - Artificial Intelligence Review
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1: Introduction
PART I Evolution of Speech and Speech Sounds: How did spoken language emerge?
Michael Studdert-Kennedy: Introduction to Part I: How did links between perception and production emerge for spoken language?
2: Michael Arbib: The Mirror System Hypothesis: How did protolanguage evolve?
3: Michael Studdert-Kennedy: How Did Language go Discrete?
4: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer: From Holistic to Discrete Speech Sounds: The blind snowflake maker hypothesis
5: Bart de Boer: Infant-Directed Speech and Evolution of Language
PART II Evolution of Grammar: How did syntax and morphology emerge?
Maggie Tallerman: Introduction to Part II: Protolanguage and the Development of Complexity
6: Maggie Tallerman: Initial Syntax and Modern Syntax: Did the clause evolve from the syllable?
7: Dana McDaniel: The Potential Role of Production in the Evolution of Syntax
8: Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy: The Evolutionary Origin of Morphology
9: Bernard Comrie and Tania Kuteva: The Evolution of Grammatical Structures and 'Functional Need' Explanations
10: Bradley Franks and Kate Rigby: Deception and Mate Selection: Some implications for relevance and the evolution of language
PART III Analogous and Homologous Traits: What can we learn from other species?
Alison Wray: Introductin to Part III: The Broadening Scope of Animal Communication Research
11: Irene Maxine Pepperberg: An Avian Perspective on Language Evolution: Implications of simultaneous development of vocal and physical object combinations by a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus)
12: Klaus Zuberbühler: Linguistic Prerequisites in the Primate Lineage
PART IV Learnability and Diversity: How did languages emerge and diverge?
James Hurford: Introduction to Part IV: Computer Modelling Widens the Focus of Language Study
13: Henry Brighton, Simon Kirby, and Kenny Smith: Cultural Selection for Learnability: Three principles underlying the view that language adapts to be learnable
14: Ted Briscoe: Coevolution of the Language Faculty and Language(s) With Decorrelated Encodings
15: Matthew Roberts, Luca Onnis, and Nick Chater: Acquisition and Evolution of Quasi-regular Languages: Two puzzles for the price of one
16: Zach Solan, Eytan Ruppin, David Horn, and Shimon Edelman: Evolution of Language Diversity: Why fitness counts
17: Andrew D. M. Smith: Mutual Exclusivity: Communicative success despite conceptual divergence
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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