
The Nature and Origin of Language
Denis Bouchard(Author)
Oxford University Press
1st Edition
Published on 26. September 2013
Book
Hardback
404 pages
978-0-19-968162-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book looks at how the human brain got the capacity for language and how language then evolved. Its four parts are concerned with different views on the emergence of language, with what language is, how it evolved in the human brain, and finally how this process led to the properties of language. Part I considers the main approaches to the subject and how far language evolved culturally or genetically. Part II argues that language is a system of signs and considers how these elements first came together in the brain. Part III examines the evidence for brain mechanisms to allow the formation of signs. Part IV shows how the book's explanation of language origins and evolution is not only consistent with the complex properties of languages but provides the basis for a theory of syntax that offers insights into the learnability of language and to the nature of constructions that have defied decades of linguistic analysis, including including subject-verb inversion in questions, existential constructions, and long-distance dependencies.
Denis Bouchard's outstandingly original account will interest linguists of all persuasions as well as cognitive scientists and others interested in the evolution of language.
Denis Bouchard's outstandingly original account will interest linguists of all persuasions as well as cognitive scientists and others interested in the evolution of language.
Reviews / Votes
This is a highly interesting, well-researched and well-written book. I would recommend it to researchers and students interested in the study of language evolution. * The Linguist List *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Line drawings
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
843 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-968162-4 (9780199681624)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Denis Bouchard
The Nature and Origin of Language
Book
09/2013
1st Edition
Oxford University Press
€79.10
Shipment within 15-20 days

Denis Bouchard
The Nature and Origin of Language
E-Book
09/2013
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€45.99
Available for download
Person
Denis Bouchard is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Quebec in Montreal. His publications include The Semantics of Syntax (University of Chicago Press, 1995), On the Content of Empty Categories (Foris Publications, 1984), and Adjectives, Number and Interfaces (Elsevier Science, 2002).
Content
PART I THE EMERGENCE OF LANGUAGE; PART II WHAT IS LANGUAGE THAT IT COULD HAVE EVOLVED?; PART III THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE FROM NEURONS TO SIGNS; PART IV EXPLAINING THE PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE