From Signal to Symbol by Ronald Planer

From Signal to Symbol by Ronald Planer

A novel account of the evolution of language and the cognitive capacities on which language depends.

In From Signal to Symbol, Ronald Planer and Kim Sterelny propose a novel theory of language: that modern language is the product of a long series of increasingly rich protolanguages evolving over the last two million years. Arguing that language and cognition coevolved, they give a central role to archaeological evidence and attempt to infer cognitive capacities on the basis of that evidence, which they link in turn to communicative capacities.

Countering other accounts, which move directly from archaeological traces to language, Planer and Sterelny show that rudimentary forms of many of the elements on which language depends can be found in the great apes and were part of the equipment of the earliest species in our lineage. After outlining the constraints a theory of the evolution of language should satisfy and filling in the details of their model, they take up the evolution of words, composite utterances, and hierarchical structure. They consider the transition from a predominantly gestural to a predominantly vocal form of language and discuss the economic and social factors that led to language. Finally, they evaluate their theory in terms of the constraints previously laid out.

Sterelny, Kim: - Kim Sterelny is Professor of Philosophy at Australian National University and Victoria University of Wellington. His books include Language and Reality (with Michael Devitt; second edition, MIT Press).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780262045971
ISBN 10	0262045974
Title	From Signal to Symbol
Author	Ronald Planer
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	MIT Press Ltd
Year published	2021-10-12
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.