Human Communication

Preface vii

Part I: Phylogenetic Origins 1

1. A Very Long Look Back at Language Development: Exploring the Evolutionary Origins of Human Language 3
Catherine Hobaiter, University of St. Andrews, Scotland

2. Building a Communication System in Infancy 31
Athena Vouloumanos and Amy Yamashiro, New York University, New York

3. Connecting Language Acquisition and Language Evolution: Clues from the Emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language* 57
Ann Senghas, Barnard College, New York

Part II: Ontogenetic Origins and Mechanisms 87

4. The Role of Prenatal Experience and Basic Auditory Mechanisms in the Development of Language 89
Maria Clemencia Ortiz Barajas and Judit Gervain, Université Paris Descartes, Paris

5. Infant Speech Perception: Integration of Multimodal Data Leads to a New Hypothesis - Sensorimotor Mechanisms Underlie Learning 113
Patricia K. Kuhl, University of Washington

Part III: Functions 159

6. Does Vocabulary Help Structure the Mind? 161
Gary Lupyan and Martin Zettersten, University of Wisconsin-Madison

7. Numerical Symbols as Explanations of Human Perceptual Experience 201
David Barner, University of California, San Diego

Author Index 243

Subject Index 253