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.

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

Book Information
ISBN 9780521639644
Author James R. Hurford
Format Paperback
Page Count 456
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 719g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 153mm * 31mm