How Language Began
Gesture and Speech in Human Evolution
1st Edition
Published on 11. September 2012
278 pages
978-1-139-55847-1 (ISBN)
Description
Human language is not the same as human speech. We use gestures and signs to communicate alongside, or instead of, speaking. Yet gestures and speech are processed in the same areas of the human brain, and the study of how both have evolved is central to research on the origins of human communication. Written by one of the pioneers of the field, this is the first book to explain how speech and gesture evolved together into a system that all humans possess. Nearly all theorizing about the origins of language either ignores gesture, views it as an add-on or supposes that language began in gesture and was later replaced by speech. David McNeill challenges the popular 'gesture-first' theory that language first emerged in a gesture-only form and proposes a groundbreaking theory of the evolution of language which explains how speech and gesture became unified.
Reviews / Votes
'Long before embodied cognition was a recognized field of study, David McNeill was demonstrating the inseparability of language and gesture. In this new work he extends this pioneering approach to encompass the origins of human language.' Elena Levy, University of Connecticut '... grounded in the expertise of more than three decades of studying gestures with speech, this book will significantly change the scholarly debates on language evolution.' Cornelia Mueller, Professor of Applied Linguistics, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cambridge University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
11 Tables, black and white; 156 Halftones, unspecified; 11 Line drawings, unspecified
File size
6613,18 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-139-55847-1 (9781139558471)
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
Book
08/2012
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€102.10
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
David McNeill is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Chicago. His publications include Gesture and Thought (2005) and Language and Gesture (Cambridge, 2000).
Content
1. Introduction - gesture and the origin of language; 2. What evolved (in part) - the Growth Point; 3. How it evolved (in part) - Mead's Loop; 4. Effects of Mead's Loop; 5. Ontogenesis in evolution - evolution in ontogenesis; 6. Alternatives, their limits, and the science base of the Growth Point.
