1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455621703321

Autore

Jenkins Lyle

Titolo

Biolinguistics : exploring the biology of language / / Lyle Jenkins [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2000

ISBN

1-107-11736-4

0-511-00994-1

1-280-43252-7

0-511-17235-4

0-511-15083-0

0-511-32473-1

0-511-60576-5

0-511-04821-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiii, 264 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge approaches to linguistics

Disciplina

401

Soggetti

Biolinguistics

Grammar, Comparative and general

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 234-253) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preliminaries; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1 The unification problem; 2 Knowledge and use of language; 3 Acquisition (growth) of language; 4 Mechanisms of language; 5 Evolution of language; 6 Conclusion; References; Index

Sommario/riassunto

This book investigates the nature of human language and its importance for the study of the mind. In particular, it examines current work on the biology of language. Lyle Jenkins reviews the evidence that language is best characterized by a generative grammar of the kind introduced by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s and developed in various directions since that time. He then discusses research into the development of language which tries to capture both the underlying universality of human language, as well as the diversity found in individual languages (Universal Grammar). Finally, he discusses a variety of approaches to language design and the evolution of



language. An important theme is the integration of biolinguistics into the natural sciences - the 'unification problem'. Jenkins also answers criticisms of the biolinguistic approach from a number of other perspectives, including evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, connectionism and ape language research, among others.