Toward an Evolutionary Biology of Language / Philip Lieberman.
2006
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Details
Title
Toward an Evolutionary Biology of Language / Philip Lieberman.
Author
Lieberman, Philip, author.
ISBN
9780674274839
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2006]
Copyright
©2006
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (448 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers
10.4159/9780674274839 doi
Dewey Decimal Classification
401
Summary
In this forcefully argued book, the leading evolutionary theorist of language draws on evidence from evolutionary biology, genetics, physical anthropology, anatomy, and neuroscience, to provide a framework for studying the evolution of human language and cognition. Philip Lieberman argues forcibly that the widely influential theories of language's development, advanced by Chomskian linguists and cognitive scientists, especially those that postulate a single dedicated language "module," "organ," or "instinct," are inconsistent with principles and findings of evolutionary biology and neuroscience. He argues that the human neural system in its totality is the basis for the human language ability, for it requires the coordination of neural circuits that regulate motor control with memory and higher cognitive functions. Pointing out that articulate speech is a remarkably efficient means of conveying information, Lieberman also highlights the adaptive significance of the human tongue. Fully human language involves the species-specific anatomy of speech, together with the neural capacity for thought and movement. In Lieberman's iconoclastic Darwinian view, the human language ability is the confluence of a succession of separate evolutionary developments, jury-rigged by natural selection to work together for an evolutionarily unique ability.
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Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Dez 2022)
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Preface
CHAPTER 1 The Mark of Evolution
CHAPTER 2 Primitive and Derived Features of Language
CHAPTER 3 The Singularity of Speech
CHAPTER 4 The Neural Bases of Language
CHAPTER 5 Motor Control and the Evolution of Language
CHAPTER 6 The Gift of Tongue
CHAPTER 7 Linguistic Issues
CHAPTER 8 Where We Might Go
Notes
References
Index
Contents
Preface
CHAPTER 1 The Mark of Evolution
CHAPTER 2 Primitive and Derived Features of Language
CHAPTER 3 The Singularity of Speech
CHAPTER 4 The Neural Bases of Language
CHAPTER 5 Motor Control and the Evolution of Language
CHAPTER 6 The Gift of Tongue
CHAPTER 7 Linguistic Issues
CHAPTER 8 Where We Might Go
Notes
References
Index