ENGLISH

Language and Species

By Derek Bickerton

Book information

Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Year
1990
ISBN
0226046109, 9780226046105
LCC
P116 .B52 1990
Open Library ID
OL1875887M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
19 MB (19615445 bytes)
Pages
297\154
Orientation
no
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-08-31 04:54:40

Description

Language and Species presents the most detailed and well-documented scenario to date of the origins of language. Drawing on "living linguistic fossils" such as "ape talk," the "two-word" stage of small children, and pidgin languages, and on recent discoveries in paleoanthropology, Bickerton shows how a primitive "protolanguage" could have offered Homo erectus a novel ecological niche. He goes on to demonstrate how this protolanguage could have developed into the languages we speak today. "You are drawn into [Bickerton's] appreciation of the dominant role language plays not only in what we say, but in what we think and, therefore, what we are."--Robert Wright, New York Times Book Review "The evolution of language is a fascinating topic, and Bickerton's Language and Species is the best introduction we have."--John C. Marshall, Nature

Similar books