The Evolutionary Emergence of Language

The Evolutionary Emergence of Language by Chris Knight

Language has no counterpart in the animal world. Unique to Homo sapiens, it appears inseparable from human nature. But how, when and why did it emerge? The contributors to this volume - linguists, anthropologists, cognitive scientists, and others - adopt a modern Darwinian perspective which offers a bold synthesis of the human and natural sciences. As a feature of human social intelligence, language evolution is driven by biologically anomalous levels of social cooperation. Phonetic competence correspondingly reflects social pressures for vocal imitation, learning, and other forms of social transmission. Distinctively human social and cultural strategies gave rise to the complex syntactical structure of speech. This book, presenting language as a remarkable social adaptation, testifies to the growing influence of evolutionary thinking in contemporary linguistics. It will be welcomed by all those interested in human evolution, evolutionary psychology, linguistic anthropology, and general linguistics.

' … a useful introduction to the social conditions of language evolution' McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521786966
ISBN 10	0521786967
Title	The Evolutionary Emergence of Language
Author	Chris Knight
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2000-11-20
Number of pages	440
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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