Language Evolution

The Windows Approach

Rudolf Botha (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

230 Seiten

2016
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-107-13513-0 (ISBN)

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The lack of direct evidence about language evolution makes it notoriously difficult to study. The Windows Approach gleans indirect evidence about it from phenomena such as fossil skulls, prehistoric shell-beads, homesign systems, pidgin languages and motherese. Botha elucidates, analyses and appraises this approach in detail.

How can we unravel the evolution of language, given that there is no direct evidence about it? Rudolf Botha addresses this intriguing question in his fascinating new book. Inferences can be drawn about language evolution from a range of other phenomena, serving as windows into this prehistoric process. These include shell-beads, fossil skulls and ancestral brains, modern pidgin and creole languages, homesign systems and emergent sign languages, modern motherese, language use of modern hunter-gatherers, first language acquisition, similarities between language and music, and comparative animal behaviour. The first systematic analysis of the Windows Approach, it will be of interest to students and researchers in many disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, palaeontology and primatology, as well as anyone interested in how language evolved.

Rudolf Botha is Emeritus Professor of General Linguistics at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and Honorary Professor of Linguistics at Utrecht Institute of Linguistics, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Part I. Preliminaries: 1. The Windows Approach; 2. Conceptual foundations of the approach; Part II. Correlate Windows: 3. Sea shells, ancient beads, and Middle Stone Age symbols; 4. Fossil skulls and ancestral brains; Part III. Analogue Windows: 5. Incipient pidgins and creoles; 6. Homesign systems and emergent sign languages; 7. Modern motherese; 8. Hunter-gatherers' use of language; 9. Language acquisition; Part IV. Abduction Windows: 10. Modern music and language; 11. Comparative animal behaviour; Part V. Epilogue: 12. A tool fit for demystifying language evolution?

Erscheint lt. Verlag	3.3.2016
Reihe/Serie	Approaches to the Evolution of Language
Zusatzinfo	13 Line drawings, unspecified
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	590 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-107-13513-3 / 1107135133
ISBN-13	978-1-107-13513-0 / 9781107135130
Zustand	Neuware