Human Language Evolution


Human Language Evolution
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Language Evolution


Language Evolution
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Author : Morten H. Christiansen
language : en
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Release Date : 2003-07-24

Language Evolution written by Morten H. Christiansen and has been published by OUP Oxford this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2003-07-24 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.


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.



Human Language Evolution


Human Language Evolution
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Author : Owi Nandi
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2012-02

Human Language Evolution written by Owi Nandi and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-02 with Human evolution categories.


Human speech is one of the most fascinating realms of study on earth, and the diversity of languages is overwhelming. In Human Language Evolution, author Dr. Owi Nandi explores the results of his long-term study delving into the origin of spoken language and his search for common patterns among all language families. In an effort to compare and connect recent developments in linguistics and in the study of human evolution via genomic sequencing, Nandi's study shows how various languages use similar sounds for words with similar meanings. It also demonstrates that these similarities may have evolved from human facial expressions caused by emotions like fear, alertness, joy, pleasure, or pain. Covering thirty-four world languages, Nandi discusses the psychological background of an array of words such as counting, evil, hurting, scratching, coughing, thinking, father and compares those among other languages. Seasoned with notes on psychological backgrounds, Human Language Evolution provides rich insight into the whys of universally conserved linguistic patterns in light of the 170,000-year history of modern mankind, transcending the reaches of traditional etymology.



The Social Origins Of Language


The Social Origins Of Language
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Author : Robert M. Seyfarth
language : en
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Release Date : 2017-12-05

The Social Origins Of Language written by Robert M. Seyfarth and has been published by Princeton University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-12-05 with Science categories.


How human language evolved from the need for social communication The origins of human language remain hotly debated. Despite growing appreciation of cognitive and neural continuity between humans and other animals, an evolutionary account of human language—in its modern form—remains as elusive as ever. The Social Origins of Language provides a novel perspective on this question and charts a new path toward its resolution. In the lead essay, Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney draw on their decades-long pioneering research on monkeys and baboons in the wild to show how primates use vocalizations to modulate social dynamics. They argue that key elements of human language emerged from the need to decipher and encode complex social interactions. In other words, social communication is the biological foundation upon which evolution built more complex language. Seyfarth and Cheney’s argument serves as a jumping-off point for responses by John McWhorter, Ljiljana Progovac, Jennifer E. Arnold, Benjamin Wilson, Christopher I. Petkov and Peter Godfrey-Smith, each of whom draw on their respective expertise in linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. Michael Platt provides an introduction, Seyfarth and Cheney a concluding essay. Ultimately, The Social Origins of Language offers thought-provoking viewpoints on how human language evolved.



The Oxford Handbook Of Language Evolution


The Oxford Handbook Of Language Evolution
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Author : Maggie Tallerman
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2012

The Oxford Handbook Of Language Evolution written by Maggie Tallerman and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.


Leading scholars present critical accounts of every aspect of the field, including work in animal behaviour; anatomy, genetics and neurology; the prehistory of language; the development of our uniquely linguistic species; and language creation, transmission, and change.



The Evolution Of Language


The Evolution Of Language
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Author : W. Tecumseh Fitch
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2010-04

The Evolution Of Language written by W. Tecumseh Fitch and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2010-04 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.


This book brings together the most important insights from the vast amount of literature on the origin of language.



The Evolution Of Human Languages


The Evolution Of Human Languages
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Author : John A. Hawkins
language : en
Publisher: Westview Press
Release Date : 1992-10-20

The Evolution Of Human Languages written by John A. Hawkins and has been published by Westview Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1992-10-20 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.


This proceedings volume from a workshop by the same name sponsored by the Santa Fe Institute in August, 1989, covers a range of disciplines and subdisciplines of relevance to linguistics, phonetics, psycholinguistics, cognitive science, sociolinguistics, archaeological and anthropological linguistics, neuroanatomy, biology, and physics.



The Evolution Of Language


The Evolution Of Language
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Author : Erica A Cartmill
language : en
Publisher: World Scientific
Release Date : 2014-03-21

The Evolution Of Language written by Erica A Cartmill and has been published by World Scientific this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014-03-21 with Computers categories.


This volume comprises refereed papers and abstracts of the 10th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (EVOLANGX), held in Vienna on 14–17th April 2014. As the leading international conference in the field, the biennial EVOLANG meeting is characterised by an invigorating, multidisciplinary approach to the origins and evolution of human language, and brings together researchers from many subject areas, including anthropology, archaeology, biology, cognitive science, computer science, genetics, linguistics, neuroscience, palaeontology, primatology and psychology. For this 10th conference, the proceedings will include a special perspectives section featuring prominent researchers reflecting on the history of the conference and its impact on the field of language evolution since the inaugural EVOLANG conference in 1996. Contents:Diachronic Processes in Language as Signaling Under Conflicting Interests (Christopher Ahern and Robin Clark)Syntactic Development in Phenotypic Space (Lluís Barceló-Coblijn and Antoni Gomila Benejam)Linguistic Animals: Understanding Language Through a Comparative Approach (Piera Filippi)Social Interaction Influences the Evolution of Cognitive Biases for Language (Seán G Roberts, Bill Thompson and Kenny Smith)Symbol Extension and Meaning Generation in Cultural Evolution for Displaced Communication (Kaori Tamura and Takashi Hashimoto)The Origins of Combinatorial Communication (Richard A Blythe and Thomas C Scott-Phillips)Social Origins of Rhythm? Synchrony and Temporal Regularity in Human Vocalization (Daniel L Bowling, Christian T Herbst and W Tecumseh Fitch)The Effect of Pitch Enhancement on Spoken Language Acquisition (Piera Filippi, Bruno Gingras and W Tecumseh Fitch)Bow-and-Arrow Technology: Mapping Human Cognition and Perhaps Language Evolution (Alexandra Regina Kratschmer, Miriam Noël Haidle and Marlize Lombard)The Cognitive Underspinnings of Metaphor as the Driving Force of Language Evolution (Andrew D M Smith and Stefan H Höfler)Model Fitting and Prediction for Language Evolution (Bill Thompson and Vanessa Ferdinand)and other papers Readership: Graduate students, academics and researchers working on the evolution of language, artificial intelligence, genetics and psychology. Key Features:Keywords:Evolution;Language;Evolang;Origin;Protolanguage



The Evolution Of Human Language


The Evolution Of Human Language
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Author : Wolfgang Wildgen
language : en
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Release Date : 2004-01-01

The Evolution Of Human Language written by Wolfgang Wildgen and has been published by John Benjamins Publishing this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2004-01-01 with Psychology categories.


Wolfgang Wildgen presents three perspectives on the evolution of language as a key element in the evolution of mankind in terms of the development of human symbol use. (1) He approaches this question by constructing possible scenarios in which mechanisms necessary for symbolic behavior could have developed, on the basis of the state of the art in evolutionary anthropology and genetics. (2) Non-linguistic symbolic behavior such as cave art is investigated as an important clue to the developmental background to the origin of language. Creativity and innovation and a population's ability to integrate individual experiments are considered with regard to historical examples of symbolic creativity in the visual arts and natural sciences. (3) Probable linguistic 'fossils' of such linguistic innovations are examined. The results of this study allow for new proposals for a 'protolanguage' and for a theory of language within a broader philosophical and semiotic framework, and raises interesting questions as to human consciousness, universal grammar, and linguistic methodology. (Series B)



The Evolutionary Emergence Of Language


The Evolutionary Emergence Of Language
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Author : Chris Knight
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2000-11-20

The Evolutionary Emergence Of Language written by Chris Knight and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2000-11-20 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.


Language has no counterpart in the animal world. Unique to Homo sapiens, it appears inseparable from human nature. But how, when and why did it emerge? The contributors to this volume - linguists, anthropologists, cognitive scientists, and others - adopt a modern Darwinian perspective which offers a bold synthesis of the human and natural sciences. As a feature of human social intelligence, language evolution is driven by biologically anomalous levels of social cooperation. Phonetic competence correspondingly reflects social pressures for vocal imitation, learning, and other forms of social transmission. Distinctively human social and cultural strategies gave rise to the complex syntactical structure of speech. This book, presenting language as a remarkable social adaptation, testifies to the growing influence of evolutionary thinking in contemporary linguistics. It will be welcomed by all those interested in human evolution, evolutionary psychology, linguistic anthropology, and general linguistics.



Why Only Us


Why Only Us
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Author : Robert C. Berwick
language : en
Publisher: MIT Press
Release Date : 2017-05-12

Why Only Us written by Robert C. Berwick and has been published by MIT Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-05-12 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.


Berwick and Chomsky draw on recent developments in linguistic theory to offer an evolutionary account of language and humans' remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire it. “A loosely connected collection of four essays that will fascinate anyone interested in the extraordinary phenomenon of language.” —New York Review of Books We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language—“the language faculty”—raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars—a computer scientist and a linguist—addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language. Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear idea of how to define “language” and therefore what it was that had evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of human language and what distinguishes us from all other animals. Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world; the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding; the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds.