Language Evolution
Series: Studies in the Evolution of Language;
- Publisher's listprice GBP 252.50
-
120 631 Ft (114 887 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 10% (cc. 12 063 Ft off)
- Discounted price 108 568 Ft (103 398 Ft + 5% VAT)
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
120 631 Ft
Availability
printed on demand
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Publisher OUP Oxford
- Date of Publication 24 July 2003
- ISBN 9780199244836
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages414 pages
- Size 242x163x26 mm
- Weight 762 g
- Language English
- Illustrations line drawings and photographs 0
Categories
Short description:
The leading scholars in the rapidly-growing field of language evolution give readable accounts of their theories on the origins of language and reflect on the most important current issues and debates. As well as providing a guide to their own published research in this area they highlight what they see as the most relevant research of others. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines involved in language evolution including linguistics, cognitive science, computational science, primatology, and archaeology.
MoreLong description:
What is it that makes us human?
This is one of the most challenging and important questions we face. Our species' defining characteristic is language - we appear to be unique in the natural world in having such an incredibly open-ended system for putting thoughts into words. If we are to truly understand ourselves as a species we must understand the origins of this strange and unique ability. To do so, we need to answer some of the most intriguing questions in contemporary scientific research: Where did language come from? How did it evolve? Why are we unique in possessing it?
This book, for the first time, brings together the leading thinkers who are trying to unlock the puzzle of language evolution. Here we see the latest ideas and theories from fields as diverse as anthropology, archaeology, artificial life, biology, cognitive science, linguistics, neuroscience, and psychology. In a series of seventeen well-written and accessible chapters we get an unrivalled view of the state of the art in this exciting area. Current controversies are revealed and new perspectives uncovered, in a clear and readable guide to the latest theories.
This collection marks a major step forward in our quest to understand the origins and evolution of human language. In doing so it sheds new light on the process of evolution, the workings of the brain, the structure of language, and - most importantly - what it means to be human.
Language Evolution is essential reading for researchers and students working in the areas covered, and has been used as a textbook for courses in the field. It will also attract the general reader who wants to know more about this fascinating subject.
Some time since we and the chimpanzees went our separate evolutionary ways, probably towards the very end of that 6 million year period, an innovation occurred whose only precedent was arguably the DNA code itself. Language arose in our ancestors, and there had been nothing like it. Of course other species communicate, many of them vocally, but none of this comes close to the open-ended, generative capacity, the huge vocabulary, the nuanced subtlety, the permanent recordability of language. As an outsider, it is with real fascination that I have read this compendium. One of the merits of any book is its capacity to stimulate the reader to think beyond its confines. This, and other merits are possessed by Language Evolution in abundance.
Table of Contents:
Language Evolution: The Hardest Problem in Science?
Language as an Adaptation to the Cognitive Niche
The Language Mosaic and its Evolution
What can the Field of Linguistics Tell Us About the Origins of Language?
Symbol and Structure: A Comprehensive Framework for Language Evolution
On the Different Origins of Symbols and Grammar
Universal Grammar and Semiotic Constraints
The Archaeological Evidence of Language Origins: States of the Art
What are the Uniquely Human Components of the Language Faculty?
The Evolving Mirror System: A Neural Basis for Language Readiness
From Hand to Mouth: the Gestural Origins of Language
The Origin and Subsequent Evolution of Language
Launching Language: the Gestural Origin of Discrete Infinity
Motor Control, Speech, and the Evolution of Human Language
From Language Learning to Language Evolution
Grammatical Assimilation
Language, Learning, and Evolution
