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Author:   Daniel Nettle (Research Fellow in Anthropology, Research Fellow in Anthropology, Merton College, Oxford, and a member of the Human Biodiversity Project at the University of Cambridge)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.10cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 24.20cm
Weight:   0.412kg
ISBN:  

9780198238584

ISBN 10:   0198238584
Pages:   180
Publication Date:   06 May 1999
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

1: Introduction 1.1: Preamble 1.2: The Family Tree Model 1.3: The Linguistic Item and Linguistic Pool 1.4: Levels and Diversity in the Linguistic Pool 1.5: Justification, Disguised as Apology 1.6: The Need for an Interdisciplinary Approach 2: Language Evolution: Basic Mechanisms 2.1: Introduction 2.2: The Neutral Model 2.3: Problems with the Neutral Model 2.4: Additional Amplifiers 2.5: Summary and Conclusions 3: Language Evolution: Computer Simulations 3.1: Introduction 3.2: The Use of Computer Simulations 3.3: Methods 3.4: Basic Results 3.5: More Realistic Social Structures 3.6: Social Selection 3.7: Functional Selection 3.8: Discrete Traits 3.9: Discussion 3.10: Adaptive Significance of Social Selection 4: Language Diversity: Patterns in Space 4.1: Introduction 4.2: Quantifying Language Diversity 4.3: Vectors of Language Spread 4.4: Case Studies 4.5: Ecological Risk as a Universal Constraint 4.6: Testing the Theory: Methods 4.7: Testing the Theory: Results 4.8: Hunter-gatherers 4.9: Conclusions 5: Language Diversity: Changes in Time 5.1: Introduction 5.2: The Palaeolithic Equilibrium 5.3: The Neolithic Punctuation 5.4: The Neolithic Aftershock 5.5: The Industrial Punctuation 5.6: Prospect 6: Phylogenetic Diversity 6.1: Introduction 6.2: Lineages and Stocks 6.3: The Distribution of Stocks 6.4: Stocks and Time: Nichol's Model 6.5: Stocks and Time: An Alternative Model 6.6: Validating the Model 6.7: Conclusions 7: Structural Diversity 7.1: Introduction 7.2: Causes of Structural Diversity 7.3: Geographical Distribution of Structural Diversity 7.4: Case Study: Phonological Inventory and the Lexicon 7.5: Conclusions Epilogue Appendix - Global Language Diversity Data

Reviews

This volume represents the synthesis of a bewildering amount of information and theory in numerous disciplines. The Journal of The Royal Anthropological Institute Nettle has produced a careful, thoughtful, and valuable study. He is to be commended for being unafraid to challenge the shibboleth that biological and linguistic diversity are wholly unrelated. He substantially adds to our knowledge of why languages have come to be distributed the way they are. Language Policy Nettle makes an important contribution to our understanding of reasons for the variation in the number of languages by correlating economic factors of subsistence with linguistic diversity. Language Policy A panopoly of possible microprocesses of language variation are explored painstakingly and with great ingenuity by the author ... This book is a mine of geolinguistic and sociolinguistic data, presented in a plain and captivating style. TREE His conclusions ... are eminently reasonable and manage to tie together a number of strands of thought in an original and creative way ... a valuable contribution to our understanding of how and why languages have changed over time. Journal of Linguistics

This volume represents the synthesis of a bewildering amount of information and theory in numerous disciplines. The Journal of The Royal Anthropological Institute Nettle has produced a careful, thoughtful, and valuable study. He is to be commended for being unafraid to challenge the shibboleth that biological and linguistic diversity are wholly unrelated. He substantially adds to our knowledge of why languages have come to be distributed the way they are. Language Policy Nettle makes an important contribution to our understanding of reasons for the variation in the number of languages by correlating economic factors of subsistence with linguistic diversity. Language Policy A panopoly of possible microprocesses of language variation are explored painstakingly and with great ingenuity by the author ... This book is a mine of geolinguistic and sociolinguistic data, presented in a plain and captivating style. TREE His conclusions ... are eminently reasonable and manage to tie together a number of strands of thought in an original and creative way ... a valuable contribution to our understanding of how and why languages have changed over time. Journal of Linguistics

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