
New Perspectives on the Origins of Language
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- 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
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