Approaches to the Evolution of Language
Social and Cognitive Bases

This book considers language within the framework of modern evolutionary theory, emphasising its social bases.

James R. Hurford (Edited by), Michael Studdert-Kennedy (Edited by), Chris Knight (Edited by)

9780521639644, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 September 1998

456 pages, 10 tables
22.9 x 15.3 x 3.1 cm, 0.719 kg

This is one of the first systematic attempts to bring language within the neo-Darwinian framework of modern evolutionary theory, without abandoning the vast gains in phonology and syntax achieved by formal linguistics over the past forty years. The contributors, linguists, psychologists, and paleoanthropologists, address such questions as: what is language as a category of behavior; is it an instrument of thought or of communication; what do individuals know when they know a language; what cognitive, perceptual, and motor capacities must they have to speak, hear, and understand a language? For the past two centuries, scientists have tended to see language function as largely concerned with the exchange of practical information. By contrast, this volume takes as its starting point the view of human intelligence as social, and of language as a device for forming alliances, in exploring the origins of the sound patterns and formal structures that characterize language.

Introduction Michael Studdert-Kennedy, Chris Knight, and James R. Hurford
Part I. Grounding Language Function in Social Cognition: 1. Introduction: Grounding language function in social cognition Chris Knight
2. On discontinuing the continuity-discontinuity debate Jean Aitchison
3. The origin of language and cognition Ib Ulbaek
4. Mimesis and the executive suite: missing links in language evolution Merlin Donald
5. Ritual/speech co-evolution: a 'selfish gene' solution to the problem of deception Chris Knight
6. Theory of mind and the evolution of language Robin Dunbar
7. Old wives' tales: the gossip hypothesis and the reliability of cheap signals Camilla Power
8. Altruism, status, and the origin of relevance Jean-Louis Dessalles
9. The evolution of language from social intelligence Robert Worden
Part II. The Emergence of Phonology: 10. Introduction: the emergence of phonology Michael Studdert-Kennedy
11. Long call structure in apes as a possible precursor for language Mária Ujhelyi
12. Social sound-making as a precursor to spoken language John F. Locke
13. The particulate origins of language generativity: from syllable to gesture Michael Studdert-Kennedy
14. Evolution of the mechanisms of language output: comparative neurobiology of vocal and manual communication Peter MacNeilage
15. Systemic constraints and adaptive change in the formation of sound structure Björn Lindblom
16. The development of sound systems in human language Klaus J. Kohler
17. Synonymy avoidance, phonology and the origin of syntax Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
Part III. The Emergence of Syntax: 18. Introduction: the emergence of syntax James R. Hurford
19. On the supposed 'counterfunctionality' of universal grammar: some evolutionary implications Frederick J. Newmeyer
20. Language evolution and the minimalist program: the origins of syntax Robert C. Berwick
21. Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language Derek Bickerton
22. Fitness and the selective adaptation of language Simon Kirby
23. Synthesizing the origins of language and meaning using co-evolution, self-organization and level formation Luc Steels
24. Computational simulations of the emergence of grammar John Batali.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF]