Toward an evolutionary biology of language

Philip Lieberman

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 co-ordination 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.

「Nielsen BookData」より

[目次]

  • Preface 1. The Mark of Evolution 2. Primitive and Derived Features of Language 3. The Singularity of Speech 4. The Neural Bases of Language 5. Motor Control and the Evolution of Language 6. The Gift of Tongue 7. Linguistic Issues 8. Where We Might Go Notes References Index

「Nielsen BookData」より

この本の情報

書名 Toward an evolutionary biology of language
著作者等 Lieberman, Philip
出版元 Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
刊行年月 2006
ページ数 xi, 427 p.
大きさ 25 cm
ISBN 0674021843
NCID BA77483942
※クリックでCiNii Booksを表示
言語 英語
出版国 アメリカ合衆国
この本を: 
このエントリーをはてなブックマークに追加

このページを印刷

外部サイトで検索

この本と繋がる本を検索

ウィキペディアから連想