Cover not available

Article published In: On mood and speech function and the ‘why’ of text analysis: In honour of Margaret Berry
Edited by Lise Fontaine, Miriam Taverniers and Kristin Davidse
[Functions of Language 26:1] 2019
► pp. 112–135

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

The evolutionary origins of interpersonal grammar

 | Aarhus University
Published online: 27 May 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.18018.mcg
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Functional and usage-based linguistics and the evolution of interpersonal grammar
  • 3.The performative semiotic and the evolution of interpersonal grammar
    • 3.1On the “shape” of interpersonal grammar
    • 3.2A possible phylogeny for the modes of expression of interpersonal grammar
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (67)
References
Austin, John L. 1962. How to do things with words. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins & William Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Byrne, Richard W. 2006. Parsing behavior: a mundane origin for an extraordinary ability. In Nicholas J. Enfield & Stephen C. Levinson (eds.), Roots of human sociality: Culture, cognition and interaction, 478–505. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, Herbert H. 2016. Depicting as a method of communication. Psychological Review 123 (3). 324–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, Herbert H. & Richard J. Gerrig. 1990. Quotations as demonstrations. Language 661. 764–805. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard. 2003. On explaining language universals. In Michael Tomasello (ed.), The new psychology of language: Cognitive and functional approaches to language structure. Volume 21, 195–209. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corballis, Michael C. 1983. Human laterality. New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Darwin, Charles. 1898. The expression of the emotions in man and animals. New York, NY: D. Appleton and Company.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davidse, Kristin, Lieven Vandelanotte & Hubert Cuyckens (eds.). 2010. Subjectification, intersubjectification and grammaticalization. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davidson, Iain & W. Noble. 1993. Tools and language in human evolution. In Kathleen R. Gibson & Tim Ingold (eds.), Tools, language and cognition in human evolution, 363–388. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deacon, Terrence. 1997. The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the human brain. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DeLoache, Judy S. 2004. Becoming symbol-minded. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8 (2). 66–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dugatkin, Lee Alan & Lyudmila Trut. 2017. How to tame a fox (and build a dog): Visionary scientists and a Siberian tale of jump-started evolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dunbar, Robin. 1996. Grooming, gossip and the evolution of language. London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. How many friends does one person need? Dunbar’s number and other evolutionary quirks. London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. Gossip and the social origins of language. In Maggie Tallerman & Kathleen R. Gibson (eds.), 343–345.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fitch, W. Tecumseh. 2010. The evolution of language. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frith, Chris D. & Uta Frith. 2007. Social cognition in humans. Current Biology 171. R724–R732. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ghomeshi, Jila, Ray Jackendoff, Nicole Rosen & Kevin Russell. 2004. Contrastive focus reduplication in English (the salad-salad paper). Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 221. 307–357. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibson, Kathleen R. 2012. Tool-dependent foraging strategies and the origin of language. In Maggie Tallerman & Kathleen R. Gibson (eds.), 340–342.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goodall, Jane. 1986. The chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behaviour. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gosden, Chris. 2003. Prehistory: A very short introduction. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. 1970. Language structure and language function. In John Lyons (ed.), New horizons in linguistics, 140–165. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1973. Explorations in the functions of language. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1975. Learning how to mean: Explorations in the development of language and meaning. London: Edward Arnold. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1979. Modes of meaning and modes of expression: Types of grammatical structure and their determination by different semantic functions. In D. J. Allerton, Edward Carney & David Holdcroft (eds.), Function and context in linguistic analysis: Essays offered to William Haas, 57–79. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1985. An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004. On grammar as the driving force from primary to higher-order consciousness. In Geoff Williams & Annabelle Lukin (eds.), 15–44.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. & Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. 2014. Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hare, Brian, Michelle Brown, Christina Williamson & Michael Tomasello. 2002. The domestication of social cognition in dogs. Science 2981: 1634–1636. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hare, Brian & Michael Tomasello. 2005. Human-like social skills in dogs. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9(9). 439–444. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hasan, Ruqaiya. 2015. Systemic Functional Linguistics: Halliday and the evolution of a social semiotic. In Jonathan J. Webster (ed.), The Bloomsbury companion to M. A. K. Halliday, 101–134. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haslam, Michael. 2019. The other tool users. Scientific American 320 (3). 58–63.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hengeveld, Kees & J. Lachlan Mackenzie. 2008. Functional Discourse Grammar: A typologically-based theory of language structure. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hernandez-Aguilar, R. Adriana, Jim Moore & Travis R. Pickering. 2007. Savanna chimpanzees use tools to harvest the underground storage organs of plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 1041. 19210–19213. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hobson, Peter. 2004. The cradle of thought: Exploring the origins of thinking. London: Pan Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hockett, Charles F. 1960. The origin of speech. Scientific American 203(3). 88–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hunt, Gavin R. & Russell D. Gray. 2003. Diversification and cumulative evolution in New Caledonian crow tool manufacture. Proceedings of the Royal Society London, B 2701. 867–874. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kimura, Doreen. 1993. Neuromotor mechanisms in human communication. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levinson, Stephen C. 2006. On the human “interaction engine”. In Nicholas J. Enfield & Stephen C. Levinson (eds.), Roots of human sociality: Culture, cognition and interaction, 39–69. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matthiessen, Christian M. I. M. 2004. The evolution of language: A systemic functional exploration of phylogenetic phases. In Geoff Williams & Annabelle Lukin (eds.), 45–90.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McGregor, William B. 1997. Semiotic grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013a. Optionality in grammar and language use. Linguistics 51(6). 1147–1204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013b. There are existential constructions and existential constructions: Presumption invoking existentials in English. Folia Linguistica 47(1). 139–181. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morgan, T. J. H., N. T. Uomini, L. E. Rendell, L. Chouinard-Thuly, S. E. Street, H. M. Lewis, C. P. Cross, C. Evans, R. Kearney, I. de la Torre, A. Whiten and K. N. Laland. 2015. Experimental evidence for the co-evolution of hominin tool-making teaching and language. Nature Communications 61. 6029. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Painter, Claire. 1984. Into the mother tongue: A case study in early language development. London: Pinter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1991. Learning the mother tongue. Geelong: Deakin University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. The ‘interpersonal first’ principle in child language development. In Geoff Williams & Annabelle Lukin (eds.), 133–153.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rose, David. 2006. A Systemic Functional approach to language evolution. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16(1). 73–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seyfarth, Robert M. & Dorothy L. Cheney. 2012. Primate social cognition as a precursor to language. In Maggie Tallerman & Kathleen R. Gibson (eds.), 59–70.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seyfarth, Robert M., Dorothy L. Cheney & Thore J. Bergman. 2005. Primate social cognition and the origins of language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9(6). 264–266. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tallerman, Maggie & Kathleen R. Gibson (eds.). 2012. The Oxford handbook of language evolution. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tannen, Deborah. 1987. Repetition in conversation: Toward a poetics of talk. Language 631. 574–605. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1989. Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Terrace, Herbert S., L. A. Petitto, R. J. Sanders & T. G. Bever. 1979. Can an ape create a sentence? Science 206(4421). 891–902. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tomasello, Michael. 1999. The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003a. Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003b. The key is social cognition. In Dedre Gentner & Susan Goldin-Meadow (eds.), Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought, 47–57. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. Origins of human communication. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. A natural history of human thinking. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Torr, Jane. 2015. Language development in early childhood: Learning how to mean. In Jonathan J. Webster (ed.), The Bloomsbury companion to M. A. K. Halliday, 242–256. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 2006. Historical aspects of modality. In William Frawley (ed.), The expression of modality, 107–139. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Modality from a historical perspective. Language and Linguistics Compass 5(6). 381–396. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Williams, Geoff & Annabelle Lukin (eds.). 2004. The development of language: Functional perspectives on species and individuals. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wynn, Thomas. 2012. The paleolithic record. In Maggie Tallerman & Kathleen R. Gibson (eds.), 282–295.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Cheng, Shi
2024. A review of interpersonal metafunction studies in systemic functional linguistics (2012–2022). Journal of World Languages 10:3 ► pp. 623 ff. DOI logo
Bartlett, Tom
2021. No Gods and precious few heroes: SFL and evolutionary linguistics. Lingua 261 ► pp. 102953 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue