The Biology and Evolution of Language
Title | The Biology and Evolution of Language PDF eBook |
Author | Philip Lieberman |
Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Pages | 398 |
Release | 1984 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 9780674074132 |
This book synthesizes much of the exciting recent research in the biology of language. Drawing on data from anatomy, neurophysiology, physiology, and behavioral biology, Philip Lieberman develops a new approach to the puzzle of language, arguing that it is the result of many evolutionary compromises. Within his discussion, Lieberman skillfully addresses matters as various as the theory of neoteny (which he refutes), the mating calls of bullfrogs, ape language, dyslexia, and computer-implemented models of the brain.
Toward an Evolutionary Biology of Language
Title | Toward an Evolutionary Biology of Language PDF eBook |
Author | Philip Lieberman |
Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Pages | 458 |
Release | 2006-06-30 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 9780674021846 |
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.
Biolinguistics
Title | Biolinguistics PDF eBook |
Author | Lyle Jenkins |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 284 |
Release | 2000 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 9780521003919 |
Argues that biology plays a more central role in language acquisition than teaching or learning.
The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution
Title | The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution PDF eBook |
Author | Maggie Tallerman |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 790 |
Release | 2012 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 0199541116 |
Leading scholars present critical accounts of every aspect of the field, including work in animal behaviour; anatomy, genetics and neurology; the prehistory of language; the development of our uniquely linguistic species; and language creation, transmission, and change.
The Psycho-Biology Of Language
Title | The Psycho-Biology Of Language PDF eBook |
Author | George Kingsley Zipf |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 360 |
Release | 2013-11-05 |
Genre | Medical |
ISBN | 1136310533 |
This is Volume XXI in a series of twenty-one on the Cognitive Psychology. Orignally published in 1936, this is a study on the introduction to Dynamic Philology.
Language, Biology and Cognition
Title | Language, Biology and Cognition PDF eBook |
Author | Prakash Mondal |
Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
Pages | 241 |
Release | 2020-08-14 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 9783030237172 |
This book examines the relationship between human language and biology in order to determine whether the biological foundations of language can offer deep insights into the nature and form of language and linguistic cognition. Challenging the assumption in biolinguistics and neurolinguistics that natural language and linguistic cognition can be reconciled with neurobiology, the author argues that reducing representation to cognitive systems and cognitive systems to neural populations is reductive, leading to inferences about the cognitive basis of linguistic performance based on assuming (false) dependencies. Instead, he finds that biological implementations of cognitive rather than the biological structures themselves, are the driver behind linguistic structures. In particular, this book argues that the biological roots of language are useful only for an understanding of the emergence of linguistic capacity as a whole, but ultimately irrelevant to understanding the character of language. Offering an antidote to the current thinking embracing ‘biologism’ in linguistic sciences, it will be of interest to readers in linguistics, the cognitive and brain sciences, and the points at which these disciplines converge with the computer sciences.
The Speech Chain
Title | The Speech Chain PDF eBook |
Author | Dr. Peter B. Denes |
Publisher | Pickle Partners Publishing |
Pages | 210 |
Release | 2016-08-09 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 1787200779 |
Originally published in 1963, The Speech Chain has been regarded as the classic, easy-to-read introduction to the fundamentals and complexities of speech communication. It provides a foundation for understanding the essential aspects of linguistics, acoustics and anatomy, and explores research and development into digital processing of speech and the use of computers for the generation of artificial speech and speech recognition. This interdisciplinary account will prove invaluable to students with little or no previous exposure to the study of language.