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The Biology of Language
This volume brings together 15 papers on the evolution and origin of language. The authors approach the subject from various angles, exploring biological, cultural, psychological and linguistic factors. A wide variety of topics is discussed, such as animal communication, language acquisition, the essentialist-evolutionist debate, and genetic classification.
[Not in series, 75] 1995. x, 300 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 13 January 2012
Published online on 13 January 2012
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
- Preface | pp. v–vi
- Acknowledgements | pp. vii–x
- Chimps, children and creoles: the need for cautionJean Aitchison | p. 1
- Some problems with an evolutionary view of written languageDavid Barton | p. 19
- Essentialism in language: a convenient bu fallacious premiseBernard H. Bichakjian | p. 33
- The invention of the syllable: reflections of a humanist on the biology of languageRobert Payson Creed | p. 61
- Genetic classification and the historical methodAngela Della Volpe | p. 73
- Animal communication and human language: searching for their evolutionary relationshipGábor Győri | p. 99
- From proto-language to grammar: psychological considerations for the emergence of grammar in language evolutionMartin Hildebrand-Nilshon | p. 127
- The biological imperatives in communicative interactionMary Ritchie Key | p. 147
- Ritual/representation as the semiogenetic precursor of hominid symbol useJo Liska | p. 157
- Language acquisition and the essentialist-evolutionist debateDavid J. Messer | p. 173
- Group selection in the biocultural evolution of language: fate of the Neanderthals revisitedRichard G. Milo and Duane Quiatt | p. 195
- The biology of language: essentialist vs. evolutionist in the nature of languageHarvey B. Sarles | p. 221
- A possibility of quantum evolution of languageWlodzimierz Sedlak | p. 257
- Biological and cultural factors in the evolution of languageDavid Smillie | p. 265
- Index of names | pp. 277–288
- Index of terms | pp. 289–300
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