Readership: This book will appeal to all those curious about the origin of language, cognitive scientists, evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, and a wider public interested in the biological origins of humankind.
Jean-Louis Dessalles, Associate Professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris
Part I The Place of Language in Human Evolutionary History 1: Animal and Human Communication 2: Culture, Languages, and Language 3: The Biological Roots of Language 4: Misapprehensions about the Origins of Language 5: Language as an Evolutionary Curiosity 6: The Local Optimality of Language Part II The Functional Anatomy of Speech 7: Putting Sounds Together 8: Protolanguage 9: The Mechanics of Syntax 10: Syntax and Meaning 11: The Structure of Meanings 12: The Emergence of Meaning Part III The Ethology of Language 13: Conversation Behaviour 14: Language as Information 15: The Birth of Argumentation 16: Language as an Evolutionary Paradox 17: The Political Origins of Language 18: Epilogue Reference Index
