Introduction by the editors

Chapters in this book

1. Prelim pages i
2. Table of contents v
3. Notes on contributors vii
4. Introduction by the editors xv
5. 1. A functional reconstruction of the supralaryngeal vocal tract of the fossil hominid from Petralona 1
6. 2. A much-too-brief evolutionary history of the mammalian middle ear 21
7. 3. Spatial mapping and the origin of language 31
8. 4. Some acoustic properties of baby-talk and the prototype effect in infant speech perception 45
9. 5. Cerebral lateralization for cognitive and linguistic abilities 55
10. 6. Echolocation 77
11. 7. Further evidence of verbal and non-verbal communication between the mother and her unborn child in the womb — in support of the author’s theory of the bi-modal origin of language 91
12. 8. The Neanderthals 101
13. 9. Motor theory of language origin 125
14. 10. Sign arbitrariness as an index of semiogenesis 161
15. 11. Language as analogic strategy 179
16. 12. Vocal/auditory cognitive mapping, shared meaning and consciousness 205
17. 13. Historical motivation in the linguistic sign and its cognitive origin 221
18. 14. The red marbles of phonological and semantic stability through the ages 235
19. 15. The elaboration of language structure 247
20. 16. The use of the scenario method in the historical sciences 259
21. 17. Developments in the pongid and human motor systems as preadaptations for the evolution of human language ability 271
22. 18. The gestural origin of language and new neurological data 293
23. 19. Memory for personal information 309
24. Name index 325
25. Subject index 333