The Seeds of Speech: Language Origin and EvolutionCambridge University Press, 04.05.2000 - 282 Seiten "Human language is a weird communication system: it has more in common with birdsong than with the calls of other primates. In this wide-ranging and accessible overview, Jean Aitchison explores the origins of human language and how it has evolved. She likens the search to a vast pre-historic jigsaw puzzle, in which numerous fragments of evidence must be assembled. Such evidence is pieced together from a mixture of linguistic and non-linguistic sources like evolution theory, archaeology, psychology, and anthropology. She explains why language is so strange, outlines recent theories about its origin, and discusses possible paths of evolution. Finally, Jean Aitchison considers what holds all languages together and prevents them from becoming unlearnably different from one another. The Seeds of Speech is fascinating and will appeal to everyone who is interested in the origins and evolution of human language, including linguists, anthropologists, psychologists, archaeologists, and the general reader."--Publisher |
Inhalt
A natural curiosity How did language begin? | 3 |
A peculiar habit What is language for? | 16 |
The bother at Babel Why do languages differ so much? | 26 |
Distinct duties Is language an independent skill? | 38 |
Origin | 47 |
The family tree The evolutionary background | 49 |
A devious mind The basic requirements | 65 |
Broken air Inherited ingredients | 77 |
Rebuilding on the high seas Keeping going | 148 |
Diffusion | 159 |
The widening circle Moving outwards | 161 |
The hidden core The hunt for universals | 175 |
The real magician Ruling the rules | 187 |
Unweaving the rainbow Separating the strands | 201 |
The endless stair Past and future | 212 |
Symbols used in the text | 222 |
Small beginnings First steps | 93 |
Evolution | 105 |
The second word The emergence of rules | 107 |
The tower of speech Expansion | 123 |
Time travelling Extra attachments | 135 |
Notes and suggestions for further reading | 223 |
References | 245 |
269 | |
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Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
ability Adpositions Aitchison 1998 animals apes banana basic bees behaviour bilong bioprogram birds Bislama brain Brazzaville beach Broca's area Cambridge University Press chapter chimp Chomsky cognitive complex consider constraints Darwin discussed early eat Nim emerged English evolution evolved example gesture Gopnik and Crago Gould grammar Guugu Yimidhirr happened hominid human language human mind-set involves Jackendoff language origin larynx learning linguistic London marker meaning mind modern humans naming insight nature Nim eat Noam Chomsky normal Nostratic nouns and verbs origin of language Oxford Papousek Papua New Guinea patterns Penguin perhaps pidgins pidgins and creoles possible prepositions primates probably problem puzzle question relative clauses researchers sentence similar skill sometimes sounds spaghetti junction speakers species speech spoken structure syntax talk tense theory things Tok Pisin topic tree vocal vowels W. S. Gilbert word order
Verweise auf dieses Buch
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic ... Eva Jablonka,Marion J. Lamb Keine Leseprobe verfügbar - 2005 |
The Origins of Complex Language: An Inquiry Into the Evolutionary Beginnings ... Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 1999 |