The prehistory of language [[electronic resource] /] / edited by Rudolf Botha, Chris Knight

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910465362303321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Oxford ; ; New York, : Oxford University Press, 2009
• ISBN: 0-19-954588-X; 1-282-26879-1; 0-19-156287-4; 9786612268793
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (368 p.)
• Collana: Studies in the evolution of language ; ; 11; Oxford linguistics
• Classificazione: 17.12
• Altri autori (Persone): BothaRudolf P; KnightChris <1942->
• Disciplina: 417/.7
• Soggetti: Historical linguistics; Language and languages - Origin; Anthropological linguistics; Taalgenese; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [287]-334) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Introduction: Rewards and challenges of multi-perspectival work on the evolution of language and speech / Rudolf Botha -- Why only humans have language / Robin Dunbar -- Is sociality a crucial prerequisite for the emergence of language? / Luc Steels -- Holistic communication and the co-evolution of language and music : resurrecting an old idea / Steven Mithen -- Music as a communicative medium / Ian Cross and Ghofur Eliot Woodruff -- Cultural niche construction : evolution's cradle of language / John Odling-Smee and Kevin N. Laland -- Playing with meaning : normative function and structure in play / Sonia Ragir and Sue Savage-Rumbaugh -- The ontogeny and phylogeny of non-verbal deixis / David A. Leavens, Timothy P. Racine, and William D. Hopkins -- The directed scratch : evidence for a referential gesture in chimpanzees? / Simone Pika and ; John C. Mitani -- The origins of the lexicon : how a word-store evolved / Maggie Tallerman -- Language : symbolization and beyond / Eric Reuland -- Grammaticalization from a biolinguistic perspective / Elly van Gelderen -- Recursion, phonological storage capacity, and the evolution of modern speech / Frederick L. Coolidge and Thomas Wynn -- Why women speak better than men (and its significance for evolution) / Bart de Boer -- Mosaic neurobiology and anatomical plausibility / Wendy K. Wilkins.
• Sommario/riassunto: Prominent linguists, cognitive scientists, archaeologists, primatologists, anthropologists, and natural scientists examine issues and advances in understanding language evolution, ranging from the co-evolution of language and music to the evolutionary biology of language. An important and stylish contribution to a fascinating area of research. - ;'When, why, and how did language evolve?' 'Why do only humans have language?' This book looks at these and other questions about the origins and evolution of language. It does so via a rich diversity of perspectives, including social, cultural, archae