John Benjamins Publishing Company
What can forest guenons “tell” us about the origin of language?
Abstract
Human language is by far the most elaborated communication system, but talking, like any behaviour, has not left any clear physical signs of its evolution. Although plausible but quantitatively limited explanations can be drawn from archaeological studies, we will probably never find real direct evidence of the evolutionary path of language. Consequently, the phylogenetic origin of language is still currently debated intensively. A number of recent theoretical and empirical advances show that the evolution of language is a tractable problem when approached at an interdisciplinary level (Hauser et al. 2002, Oller & Griebel 2008). One way to solve this problem is to compare the anatomy, the communicative mechanisms and the cognitive capacities of humans and other more or less phylogenetically-related animals. The question addressed is then ‘Can we find the roots of the complex human language in animal vocal communication?’
Abstract
Human language is by far the most elaborated communication system, but talking, like any behaviour, has not left any clear physical signs of its evolution. Although plausible but quantitatively limited explanations can be drawn from archaeological studies, we will probably never find real direct evidence of the evolutionary path of language. Consequently, the phylogenetic origin of language is still currently debated intensively. A number of recent theoretical and empirical advances show that the evolution of language is a tractable problem when approached at an interdisciplinary level (Hauser et al. 2002, Oller & Griebel 2008). One way to solve this problem is to compare the anatomy, the communicative mechanisms and the cognitive capacities of humans and other more or less phylogenetically-related animals. The question addressed is then ‘Can we find the roots of the complex human language in animal vocal communication?’
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Primate communication and human language 1
-
Part 1. Primate vocal communication: New findings about its complexity, adaptability and control
- Living links to human language 13
- What can forest guenons “tell” us about the origin of language? 39
- Do chimpanzees have voluntary control of their facial expressions and vocalizations? 71
-
Part 2. Neurophysiological, behavioural and ontogenetic data on the evolution of communicative orofacial and manual gestures
- From gesture to language 91
- Mirror neurons and imitation from a developmental and evolutionary perspective 121
- Lashley’s problem of serial order and the evolution of learnable vocal and manual communication 139
-
Part 3. Emergence and development of speech, gestures and language
- Naming with gestures in children with typical development and with Down syndrome 155
- Illuminating language origins from the perspective of contemporary ontogeny in human infants 173
- Emergence of articulatory-acoustic systems from deictic interaction games in a “Vocalize to Localize” framework 193
- 2 + 2 Linguistic minimal frames 221
- Name index 233
- Subject index 237
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Primate communication and human language 1
-
Part 1. Primate vocal communication: New findings about its complexity, adaptability and control
- Living links to human language 13
- What can forest guenons “tell” us about the origin of language? 39
- Do chimpanzees have voluntary control of their facial expressions and vocalizations? 71
-
Part 2. Neurophysiological, behavioural and ontogenetic data on the evolution of communicative orofacial and manual gestures
- From gesture to language 91
- Mirror neurons and imitation from a developmental and evolutionary perspective 121
- Lashley’s problem of serial order and the evolution of learnable vocal and manual communication 139
-
Part 3. Emergence and development of speech, gestures and language
- Naming with gestures in children with typical development and with Down syndrome 155
- Illuminating language origins from the perspective of contemporary ontogeny in human infants 173
- Emergence of articulatory-acoustic systems from deictic interaction games in a “Vocalize to Localize” framework 193
- 2 + 2 Linguistic minimal frames 221
- Name index 233
- Subject index 237
