Full Product Details
Author: Morten H. Christiansen (, Cornell University) ,
Simon Kirby (, Edinburgh University)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.70cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.602kg
ISBN: 9780199244843
ISBN 10: 0199244847
Pages: 414
Publication Date: 24 July 2003
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Some time since we and the chimpanzees went our separate evolutionary ways, probably towards the very end of that 6 million year period, an innovation occurred whose only precedent was arguably the DNA code itself. Language arose in our ancestors, and there had been nothing like it. Of course other species communicate, many of them vocally, but none of this comes close to the open-ended, generative capacity, the huge vocabulary, the nuanced subtlety, the permanent recordability of language. As an outsider, it is with real fascination that I have read this compendium. One of the merits of any book is its capacity to stimulate the reader to think beyond its confines. This, and other merits are possessed by Language Evolution in abundance. Richard Dawkins This book offers the current states of the art on the subject of language evolution, covering just about every scientific discipline that has a stake in answering the questions it raises. Pragmatics Language Evolution is a brave attempt at a state-of-the-art survey of language origin research at the beginning of the millennium. Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Science The evolutionary origins of language should intrigue anyone interested in the relationship of humans to other species. For them, Language Evolution will provide a useful starting point. Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Science In the beginning there was no language. Now there is. Language Evolution describes the passage as a wonderful voyage of discovery. Nurturing Potential
`Language Evolution is a brave attempt at a state-of-the-art survey of language origin research at the beginning of the millennium.' Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Science `The evolutionary origins of language should intrigue anyone interested in the relationship of humans to other species. For them, Language Evolution will provide a useful starting point.' Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Science `In the beginning there was no language. Now there is. Language Evolution describes the passage as a wonderful voyage of discovery.' Nurturing Potential `... it is light and airy, yet contradictorily comprehensive and solid, and can be opened at any page whereupon you may be as lost as Keats on first discovering Chapman's Homer.' Nurturing Potential `... a book to be savoured like a good wine ... the reader can enjoy the nose, the bouquet, the first glorious sip, the swirl, the swill, the swallow. And finally the aftertaste. But unlike the wine, there is no need to buy another bottle - or another copy in this case. The reader can return to it again and again, to ever fresher delights.' Nurturing Potential
Some time since we and the chimpanzees went our separate evolutionary ways, probably towards the very end of that 6 million year period, an innovation occurred whose only precedent was arguably the DNA code itself. Language arose in our ancestors, and there had been nothing like it. Of course other species communicate, many of them vocally, but none of this comes close to the open-ended, generative capacity, the huge vocabulary, the nuanced subtlety, the permanent recordability of language. As an outsider, it is with real fascination that I have read this compendium. One of the merits of any book is its capacity to stimulate the reader to think beyond its confines. This, and other merits are possessed by Language Evolution in abundance. Richard Dawkins This book offers the current states of the art on the subject of language evolution, covering just about every scientific discipline that has a stake in answering the questions it raises. Pragmatics Language Evolution is a brave attempt at a state-of-the-art survey of language origin research at the beginning of the millennium. Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Science The evolutionary origins of language should intrigue anyone interested in the relationship of humans to other species. For them, Language Evolution will provide a useful starting point. Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Science In the beginning there was no language. Now there is. Language Evolution describes the passage as a wonderful voyage of discovery. Nurturing Potential
`Language Evolution is a brave attempt at a state-of-the-art survey of language origin research at the beginning of the millennium.' Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Science `The evolutionary origins of language should intrigue anyone interested in the relationship of humans to other species. For them, Language Evolution will provide a useful starting point.' Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Science `In the beginning there was no language. Now there is. Language Evolution describes the passage as a wonderful voyage of discovery.' Nurturing Potential `... it is light and airy, yet contradictorily comprehensive and solid, and can be opened at any page whereupon you may be as lost as Keats on first discovering Chapman's Homer.' Nurturing Potential `... a book to be savoured like a good wine ... the reader can enjoy the nose, the bouquet, the first glorious sip, the swirl, the swill, the swallow. And finally the aftertaste. But unlike the wine, there is no need to buy another bottle - or another copy in this case. The reader can return to it again and again, to ever fresher delights.' Nurturing Potential
Author Information
Morten H. Christiansen is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. He is co-editor of Connectionist Psycholinguistics published by Ablex in 2001. Simon Kirby is a British Academy Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh: his book, Function, Selection, and Innateness was published by OUP in 1999.
