The Transition to Language

by Wray, Alison

• ISBN13: 9780199250660
• ISBN10: 0199250669
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The evolutionary emergence of each facet of human language can be viewed as a 'transition'. This book explores how different transitions took place, their preconditions, and their consequences. Among the questions it addresses are: what physiological and psychological differences between usand other animals lie at the heart of our superior capacity for language? Was the pre-linguistic period of humankind characterized by words without syntax, syntax without meaning, gesture without speech, or all, or none, of these? Once a community is ready and able to develop language, what internaland external factors trigger its emergence? How are we to interpret the archaeological evidence of early tool-making abilities, relative to the presence, or absence, of language? In what social circumstances could language have avoided being immediately harnessed for deception, so that it became toodangerous and unreliable to be of value? Was the universal form of language determined by pre-existing psychological capabilities, or by natural constraints in communication? Has language finished evolving? If not, how different were linguistic structures used by our early ancestors from those thatwe use today? This investigation into one of the enduring mysteries of humankind brings together original contributions from linguists, archaeologists, anthropologists, psychologists, biologists, primatologists, and researchers in artificial intelligence. They offer the reader up-to-the-minute debates in thefield of language evolution.

Author Biography

Alison Wray gained her BA and D.Phil. degrees from the University of York. She has worked in departments of music, linguistics, and communication, and her research focuses on three major areas: historical pronunciation for early music, formulaic language, and language evolution. She has published papers and chapters on all three areas, and her books include: The Focusing Hypothesis (1992), Projects in Linguistics (1998, with Trott and Bloomer) and Formulaic Language and the Lexicon (2002).

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements	vii
List of Figures	ix
List of Tables	xii
Introduction: Conceptualizing Transition in an Evolving Field	1	(20)
Alison Wray
Part I Making Ready for Language: Necessary, but not Sufficient
Comparative Vocal Production and the Evolution of Speech: Reinterpreting the Descent of the Larynx	21	(25)
W. Tecumseh Fitch
Sexual Display as a Syntactical Vehicle: The Evolution of Syntax in Birdsong and Human Language through Sexual Selection	46	(18)
Kazuo Okanoya
Serial Expertise and the Evolution of Language	64	(29)
H. S. Terrace
Part II Internal Triggers to Transition: Genes, Processing, Culture, Gesture, and Technology
ProtocadherinXY: A Candidate Gene for Cerebral Asymmetry and Language	93	(20)
T.J. Crow
Dual Processing in protolanguage: Performance without Competence	113	(25)
Alison Wray
Language and Revolutionary Consciousness	138	(23)
Chris Knight
Did Language Evolve from Manual Gestures?	161	(19)
Michael C. Corballis
The Finished Artefact Fallacy: Acheulean Hand-axes and Language Origins	180	(27)
Iain Davidson
Part III External Triggers to Transition: Environment, Population, and Social Context
Foraging versus Social Intelligence in the Evolution of protolanguage	207	(19)
Derek Bickerton
Methodological Issues in Simulating the Emergence of Language	226	(26)
Bradley Tonkes
Janet Wiles
Crucial Factors in the Origins of Word-Meaning	252	(20)
Steels, F. Kaplan
A. McIntyre
J. Van Looveren
Constraints on Communities with Indigenous Sign Languages: Clues to the Dynamics of Language Genesis	272	(25)
Sonia Ragir
Part IV The Onward Journey: Determining the Shape of Language
The Slow Growth of Language in Children	297	(14)
Robbins Burling
The Roles of Expression and Representation in Language Evolution	311	(24)
James R. Hurford
Linguistic Adaptation without Linguistic Constraints: The Role of Sequential Learning in Language Evolution	335	(24)
Morten H. Christiansen
Michelle R. Ellefson
Uniformitarian Assumptions and Language Evolution Research	359	(17)
Frederick J. Newmeyer
On the Evolution of Grammatical Forms	376	(23)
Bernd Heine
Tania Kuteva
List of Contributors	399	(8)
Index	407