Adam's tongue :
Material type:
TextPublication details: New York : Hill and Wang, 2009Edition: 1st edDescription: 286 p. : illISBN: 9780809022816 (alk. paper); 0809022818 (alk. paper)Subject(s): Language and languages | Human evolution | PsycholinguisticsDDC classification: 401 | Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reference Books
|
Main Library Reference | Reference | 401 BIC (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 013859 |
Browsing Main Library shelves, Shelving location: Reference, Collection: Reference Close shelf browser (Hides shelf browser)
| 400 TRA Language : the basics | 400 YUL The study of language : an introduction | 400 YUL The study of language : an introduction | 401 BIC Adam's tongue : | 401 GEO Metaphors We Live By | 401 JAC Foundations of language : | 401 JEN Biolinguistics : exploring the biology of language |
Includes index
The size of the problem -- Thinking like engineers -- Singing apes? -- Chatting apes? -- Niches aren't everything (they-re the only thing) -- Our ancestors in their niches -- Go to the ant, thou sluggard -- The big bang -- The challenge from Chomsky -- Making up our minds -- An acorn grows to a sapling -- The sapling becomes an oak.
How language evolved has been called "the hardest problem in science." Linguist Derek Bickerton shows how and why previous attempts to solve that problem have fallen short. This book is the first that thoroughly integrates the story of how language evolved with the story of how humans evolved. Taking cues from topics as diverse as the foraging strategies of ants, the distribution of large prehistoric herbivores, and the construction of ecological niches, Bickerton produces a dazzling new alternative to the conventional wisdom. Language is unique to humans, but it isn't the only thing that sets us apart from other species--our cognitive powers are qualitatively different. So could there be two separate discontinuities between humans and the rest of nature? No, says Bickerton; he shows how the mere possession of symbolic units--words--automatically opened a new and different cognitive universe.--From publisher description.
There are no comments on this title.