New Perspectives on the Origins of Language

Name: New Perspectives on the Origins of Language
Brand: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Price: 136.99 EUR
Availability: OnlineOnly

Claire Lefebvre Bernard Comrie Henri Cohen(Editor)

John Benjamins Publishing Company

1st Edition

Published on 21. November 2013

XVI, 582 pages

E-Book

PDF with Adobe-DRM

System requirements

978-90-272-7113-6 (ISBN)

€136.99incl. 7% vat

System requirements

for PDF with Adobe-DRM

E-Book Single Licence

Available for download

Description

More details

Other editions

Persons

Content

New Perspectives on the Origins of Language
Editorial page
Title page
LCC data
Table of contents
Preface
Introduction
Historical, Darwinian, and current perspectives on the origin(s) of language
1. Introduction
2. First reflections on language origins
3. Early language deprivation experiments
4. Christian era reflections on language origins
5. Pre-Darwinian theories of language origins
6. The SLP ban (1866)
7. Darwin's views on language origins
8. Current perspectives
References
The origin of language as seen by eighteenth-century philosophy
1. The "turning point"
2. What is meant by the "origin" of languages?
3. The speculative model
4. The historical model
References
Cognitive and social aspects of language origins
1. The problem
1.1 My "first" theory of language (in the broadest sense)
1.2 A "second" theory of the origin of language
2. The sentence in context
3. The myth in its context
3.1 The narrative revolution: Myth in social context
3.2 Myth in cross-cultural contexts
4. Conclusion
References
Reconstructed fossil vocal tracts and the production of speech
1. Introduction
2. Issues and risks of an expanding multidisciplinary dialogue: The contagion of scientific ideas
2.1 The contagion of scientific ideas
2.2 Circular reasoning
2.3 Ascientific presuppositions
3. Structuring epistemology: The push-pull framework
3.1 Pull and push approaches
3.2 Motivations and pull hypotheses
3.3 Push theories: Substance and function
3.4 Push hardware: The FOXP2 gene
3.5 Push software: Prerequisites for cognitive functions
4. Genetic hardware: HOX genes
5. Anatomical hardware
5.1 The vocal tract
5.2 The hyoid bone
5.3 The hyoid bone and the lowering of the mandible
5.4 The hyoid bone and the tongue
5.5 The hyoid bone and the larynx
5.6 The hyoido-laryngeal space
5.7 The cervical spine
6. Positioning and reconstruction of the vocal tract
6.1 Ontogeny: The true descent of the larynx
6.2 Phylogeny: No larynx descent
6.2.1 A choice of fossils
6.2.2 Vocal tract reconstruction: Methodology
7. Acoustic potential of the vocal tract: The vowel space
8. Control of the vocal tract articulators
8.1 Speech production and suction-mastication-deglutition
8.2 Babbling and cyclicity
9. From phylogeny to ontogeny: The "right shapes" of the sound systems of the languages of the world
10. Conclusion
Annex
Acknowledgments
References
Paleoanthropology and language
1. Introduction
2. Human evolution
3. Emergence of the modern sensibility
4. A role for language
Acknowledgments
References
Material culture and language
1. Introduction
2. Symbols
2.1 GOFAI and symbolism
2.2 Terrence Deacon on symbols
2.3 Meaning and causality
2.4 Symbolic reference and social cognition
3. Symbols in archeology
3.1 Reading symbolism in early Homo sapiens
3.2 Is it symbolism?
3.3 Symbol or index?
4. From shared meaning to language
Acknowledgments
References
Gestural theory of the origins of language
1. Introduction
2. Why language evolved from manual gestures
2.1 Gesture as a natural communication medium
2.2 Manual gestures in primates are intentional, whereas vocalizations are not
2.3 The mirror system
2.4 Teaching language to apes
2.5 Signed languages
2.6 The development of language
2.7 Handedness and cerebral asymmetry for language
2.8 Summary
References
Primate communication
1. Introduction
2. Mental concepts
2.1 The primacy of thought
2.2 Chimpanzee minds
2.3 Cultural override
2.4 Acquisition of meaning
3. Roads to infinity
3.1 The Holy Grail
3.2 Combinatorial animal signals
3.3 Semantic composition versus idioms
3.4 Evolution of syntax
4. Pragmatics and comprehension
4.1 Causal reasoning or learned associations?
4.2 Exploring inference
4.3 The origins of pragmatics
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References
FoxP2 and vocalization
1. Introduction
2. Vocal production learning: What is it, who does it, and how do you know?
2.1 Parallel vocal developmental programs
2.2 Anatomical parallels
2.3 The KE family: A case study in disrupted vocal production learning
3. From gene to phenotype: How to connect them?
3.1 Beyond brain structure: FoxP2 as a plasticity gate
3.2 Other genes: FoxP family members
3.3 Genes downstream of FOXP2
3.4 Key detour? A FOXP2 target is linked to specific language impairment and autism spectrum disorder
3.5 Looking into the dark matter
3.6 Follow-through: Prioritizing genes
4. Summary
Acknowledgments
References
Brain lateralization and the emergence of language
1. Introduction
2. Hemispheric dominance for language
2.1 Language organization in healthy right-handers
2.2 A close link between left-hemisphere dominance for language and right-handedness
2.3 Handedness, language, and the motor origin of language: Functional imaging of tool making and sign language
2.4 Handedness alone does not explain the variability of hemispheric specialization for language
3. Perceptual theory of the origin of hemispheric specialization
4. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
Sensorimotor constraints and the organization of sound patterns
1. Introduction
2. Preliminary considerations on speech production
3. The case of vowel systems
3.1 General trends
3.2 Sensorimotor constraints
4. The case of consonant systems
4.1 General trends
4.2 Sensorimotor constraints
5. Syllabic forms
5.1 Universal trends in syllabic inventories
5.2 Sensorimotor constraints
6. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
Symbol grounding and the origin of language
1. Show vs. tell
2. Before orality
3. What is language?
3.1 The power to say anything that can be said
3.2 What would "protolanguage" be?
3.3 What is a symbol system?
3.4 Arbitrariness of shape, autonomy of syntax, and meaning
4. Categorization
4.1 The symbol grounding problem
4.2 Simulating the origin of language
4.2.1 Pantomime to proposition: The transition from show to tell
5. Combining and communicating categories
5.1 The disposition to propose: Intelligence or motivation?
5.2 From hand to mouth
5.2.1 Symbol grounding
6. Keeping our feet on the ground
References
Part 4. Linguistic views on language origins
Sound patterns and conceptual content of the first words
1. Sound patterns of the first words
1.1 The neglect of infant babbling
1.2 The relation between ontogeny and phylogeny
1.3 Babbling and the problem of serial order
2. The Nature of Babbling
2.1 From babbling to speaking a language
2.2 Vocal babbling and sign babbling
2.3 The ethology of vocal babbling
2.4 The phylogeny of babbling
3. Comparative neurobiology of the Frame/Content theory
4. The Evo-Devo perspective and babbling
5. How sound patterns became linked with concepts
5.1 Baby talk
5.2 Baby talk and parental terms
5.3 The first words
6. Coda
References
Brave new words
1. The Proto-Sapiens kinship terms papa, mama and kaka
1.1 Historical background
1.2 Trask and the historical emergence of papa/mama words
1.2.1 Inherited papa/mama words in Indo-European languages
1.2.2 Inherited papa/mama words in Dravidian and Turkic languages
1.2.3 Inherited papa/mama words in Chinese languages
1.3 Summary
2. Chance resemblances?
2.1 Inaccurate calculations
2.2 Inaccurate comparative linguistics
2.2.1 Inaccuracy with regard to linguistic taxonomy
2.2.2 Inaccuracy with regard to phonetic correspondences
2.2.3 Inaccuracy with regard to semantic correspondences
2.2.4 Summary
3. Why kinship appellatives do not change: Children babbling, parents choosing
4. Back to Proto-Human: The Frame, then Content hypothesis
5. By way of conclusion: The early steps towards articulate language
5.1 How else may Proto-Sapiens aid the study of language origins?
References
Appendices: Comparative data
Appendix A. The Proto-Indo-European root *ma- ~ *mama- 'mother' [or, rather, 'mother, mom']
Appendix B. The Proto-Indo-European root *pa ~ *papa 'father, dad'
Appendix C. The Proto-Indo-European root *tat- ~ *tet- 'father' [or, rather, *tata 'dad, father']
Appendix D. The Proto-Dravidian root *appa 'dad, father'
Appendix E. The Proto-Turkic roots *ata 'dad, father', *apa 'dad, father', and *ana 'mom, mother'
Appendix F. The origin of words for 'dad', 'father', 'mom', and 'mother' in the Chinese family.
Appendix G. The descent of Proto-Indo-European *deik'e- 'to show, to point' and *dekm?- 'ten'.
On the origin of Grammar
1. Introduction
2. On grammaticalization and the rise of complexity
2.1 Grammaticalization theory
2.2 On complexity
3. On linguistic fossils
3.1 Two fossil hypotheses
3.2 Thetical Grammar
3.3 Possible neurological correlates
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References
Arbitrary signs and the emergence of language
1. Basic questions
2. Language as a neurological side effect
3. How offline brain systems emerged
4. A sign is born
5. Epigenetic factors: Self-organizing constraints due to building materials
6. Contrastive dispersion of percepts and combinatorial phonology
6.1 Phonological segments
6.2 Phonological combinations
7. Contrastive dispersion of meanings and combinatorial semantics
8. Linking meanings and forms: The Saussurean sign
9. Syntax: The contrastive dispersion of combinatorial signs
10. Type-recursion
11. Conclusion: A change of scenario
References
On the relevance of pidgins and creoles in the debate on the origins of language
1. Introduction
2. The LBH paradigm of pidgin and creole genesis
2.1 Pidgins
2.2 Creoles
2.3 The Language Bioprogram Hypothesis
2.4 Summary
3. Evaluation of the LBH paradigm
3.1 Are pidgins and creoles distinct entities?
3.2 Does pidginization necessarily involve stripping?
3.3 Are pidgins restricted codes?
3.3.1 Do pidgins lack functional categories?
3.3.2 Do pidgins lack syntax?
3.3.3 Do pidgins lack subordination?
3.3.4 Do pidgins have small lexicons and many multifunctional words?
3.3.5 Conclusion
3.4 Are functional categories invented by children in creolization?
3.5 Are all creoles of the world similar?
3.6 Are creoles like child language?
3.7 Do creoles represent the unmarked case?
3.8 Are creoles created within one generation?
3.9 Summary
4. A paradigm shift in the study of PC genesis
4.1 The cognitive process of relabeling
4.2 The scenario of PC genesis within a relabeling-based account
4.3 An optimal account of PC genesis
4.4 Summary
5. Pidgin/creole: A window on protolanguage/language?
5.1 The nature and genesis of protolanguage
5.2 From protolanguage to language
5.3 The creators of language
5.4 The time span from protolanguage to language
5.5 Summary
6. Conclusion
References
Part 5. Computational modeling of language origins
Modeling cultural evolution
1. Introduction
2. Language shaped by multiple constraints
2.1 Recruitment of cues during cultural evolution of language
3. Multiple-Cue integration in language acquisition and processing
3.1 Quantifying the usefulness of phonological and distributional cues
3.2 Multiple-cue integration by a sequential learner
3.3 Phonological cues in acquisition and processing
4. Modeling the cultural evolution of language
Acknowledgments
References
How language emerges in situated embodied interactions
1. Introduction
2. Learning from evolutionary biology
3. The cultural evolution of language
3.1 Language systems
3.2 Language strategies
3.3 Language evolution by linguistic selection
4. Stages in the methodology of evolutionary linguistics
4.1 Identify a language system
4.2 Identify the function of a language system in symbolic communication
4.3 Understand how a language system is built, given a language strategy
4.4 Reconstruct the origins of a language strategy
4.5 Show the selective advantage of a language system
5. Outlook
Acknowledgments
References
Emergence of communication and language in evolving robots
1. Introduction
2. Evolution of a stable communication system
2.1 Emergence of communication and information suppression in evolving robots with conflicting interests
2.2 Experimental setup
2.3 Results
2.4 Discussion
3. How forms of communication originate and evolve
3.1 Origins and evolution of communication in cooperating robots
3.2 Experimental setup
3.3 Results
3.4 Discussion
4. Conclusion
References
Evolving a bridge from praxis to language
1. Introduction
2. What should a theory of language evolution explain?
3. Against Universal Grammar
3.1 Language acquisition
3.2 Language change
4. The mirror system hypothesis on the evolution of the language-ready brain
4.1 Imitation
4.2 From pantomime to protosign and protolanguage
5. Discussion
References
Index

System requirements

Save as PDF Copy link into clipboard

Schweitzer Fachinformationen

New Perspectives on the Origins of Language

Description

More details

Other editions

Additional editions

Persons

Content

System requirements