Becoming Human
From pointing gestures to syntax
1st Edition
Published on 6. July 2011
XVII, 402 pages
978-90-272-8679-6 (ISBN)
Description
What do the pointing gesture, the imitation of new complex motor patterns, the evocation of absent objects and the grasping of others' false beliefs all have in common? Apart from being (one way or other) involved in the language, they all would share a demanding requirement - a second mental centre within the subject. This redefinition of the simulationism is extended in the present book in two directions. Firstly, mirror-neurons and, likewise, animal abilities connected with the visual field of their fellows, although they certainly constitute important landmarks, would not require this second mental centre. Secondly, others' beliefs would have given rise not only to predicative communicative function but also to pre-grammatical syntax. The inquiry about the evolutionary-historic origin of language focuses on the cognitive requirements on it as a faculty (but not to the indirect causes such as environmental changes or greater co-operation), pays attention to children, and covers other human peculiarities as well, e.g., symbolic play, protodeclaratives, self-conscious emotions, and interactional or four-hand tasks.
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07/2011
John Benjamins Publishing Co
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Content
Introduction
Section one. Evolutionary precursors
Chapter 1. Monkeys' mirror neurons
Chapter 2. Chimpanzees and the visual field of the conspecific
Section two. The basic human ability
Chapter 3. The three modes of processing the eyes of others
Chapter 4. Pointing gestures
Chapter 5. Four-hand co-operative actions and children's interpersonal co-ordination games
Section three. Specifying some necessary requisites of language
Chapter 6. Saussurean parity and the perception of a radically not-own self
Chapter 7. About evocation
Chapter 8. Symbolic play: Developments in the simulatory centre
Chapter 9. From symbolic play to linguistic symbol
Section four. The origin of predication and syntax
Chapter 10. From the general exposition to the crucial requisite achieved by the protodeclarative
Chapter 11. Toward the original perception of false beliefs of others: The importance of the learned sign
Chapter 12. Between motor learning and the perception of beliefs of others: The crucial role of the protodeclarative
Section five. Pregrammatical, theme-rheme syntax: Revisiting Frege and Vygotsky
Chapter 13. From beliefs of others to communicative predication
Chapter 14. Revisiting Frege: How can a predication be at one and the same time true and not redundant?
Chapter 15. Communicative functions, Vygotskian 'pure predicate' and conceptual semantics: Various questions about predication
Chapter 16. Connecting with the concepts of theme (or topic) and rheme (or comment)
Section six. From original to present-day predication: Links and grammatical syntax
Chapter 17. Meaning and the different types of link
Chapter 18. Expressive speech and syntactic links: A hypothesis on the historic origins of those links, and on some other questions, along the way
Chapter 19. Historical grammaticalisation: The answers are lacking, but the questions are good
Section seven. Syntax beyond predication
Chapter 20. Interrogative communication
Chapter 21. Toward complex syntax: The crucial role of reported speech
Preliminary conclusion and the main thesis recapitulated
References
Glossary
Author index
Subject index
Section one. Evolutionary precursors
Chapter 1. Monkeys' mirror neurons
Chapter 2. Chimpanzees and the visual field of the conspecific
Section two. The basic human ability
Chapter 3. The three modes of processing the eyes of others
Chapter 4. Pointing gestures
Chapter 5. Four-hand co-operative actions and children's interpersonal co-ordination games
Section three. Specifying some necessary requisites of language
Chapter 6. Saussurean parity and the perception of a radically not-own self
Chapter 7. About evocation
Chapter 8. Symbolic play: Developments in the simulatory centre
Chapter 9. From symbolic play to linguistic symbol
Section four. The origin of predication and syntax
Chapter 10. From the general exposition to the crucial requisite achieved by the protodeclarative
Chapter 11. Toward the original perception of false beliefs of others: The importance of the learned sign
Chapter 12. Between motor learning and the perception of beliefs of others: The crucial role of the protodeclarative
Section five. Pregrammatical, theme-rheme syntax: Revisiting Frege and Vygotsky
Chapter 13. From beliefs of others to communicative predication
Chapter 14. Revisiting Frege: How can a predication be at one and the same time true and not redundant?
Chapter 15. Communicative functions, Vygotskian 'pure predicate' and conceptual semantics: Various questions about predication
Chapter 16. Connecting with the concepts of theme (or topic) and rheme (or comment)
Section six. From original to present-day predication: Links and grammatical syntax
Chapter 17. Meaning and the different types of link
Chapter 18. Expressive speech and syntactic links: A hypothesis on the historic origins of those links, and on some other questions, along the way
Chapter 19. Historical grammaticalisation: The answers are lacking, but the questions are good
Section seven. Syntax beyond predication
Chapter 20. Interrogative communication
Chapter 21. Toward complex syntax: The crucial role of reported speech
Preliminary conclusion and the main thesis recapitulated
References
Glossary
Author index
Subject index
