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Chapter 1 A short history of biolinguistics

  • José-Luis Mendívil-Giró
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Biolinguistics at the Cutting Edge
This chapter is in the book Biolinguistics at the Cutting Edge

Abstract

Unlike most scientific disciplines, the origin of biolinguistics is so recent that, to a large extent, its history has been written by some of its main protagonists, and not by historians who have approached it from outside of the discipline, or that have done it long after the period of its development. Therefore, this brief summary of the history of biolinguistics is centrally based on the narratives of some of its protagonists, such as Noam Chomsky, Massimo Piatelli- Palmarini, Lyle Jenkins or Tecumseh Fitch, among others. The final objective of this contribution is to show how linguistic theory has been able to contribute to the understanding of the biological nature of language, and how the evolution of biology as a science has influenced linguistic theory itself.

Abstract

Unlike most scientific disciplines, the origin of biolinguistics is so recent that, to a large extent, its history has been written by some of its main protagonists, and not by historians who have approached it from outside of the discipline, or that have done it long after the period of its development. Therefore, this brief summary of the history of biolinguistics is centrally based on the narratives of some of its protagonists, such as Noam Chomsky, Massimo Piatelli- Palmarini, Lyle Jenkins or Tecumseh Fitch, among others. The final objective of this contribution is to show how linguistic theory has been able to contribute to the understanding of the biological nature of language, and how the evolution of biology as a science has influenced linguistic theory itself.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Section I: The biolinguistic enterprise
  5. Chapter 1 A short history of biolinguistics 19
  6. Chapter 2 Biolinguistics in the context of linguistics 45
  7. Section II: The quest for interdisciplinarity and the challenges of technification
  8. Chapter 3 The naturalistic tradition of biolinguistics and the study of child phonology 91
  9. Chapter 4 Psycholinguistics and biolinguistics 119
  10. Chapter 5 New techniques in neurolinguistics 159
  11. Chapter 6 The biological basis of language: insights from genetic studies of developmental language disorders 177
  12. Section III: Theorizing biolinguistics
  13. Chapter 7 The nature of language and the structure of reality 207
  14. Chapter 8 Biolinguistics and human language evolution: On symbolism, language, and language evolution 237
  15. Section IV: Going practical: The applicability of biolinguistics findings
  16. Chapter 9 Language disorders through the lens of biolinguistics 279
  17. Chapter 10 Approaching language and aging from a biolinguistic perspective 307
  18. Chapter 11 Biolinguistics and its impact on language teaching: Achievements and prospects 331
  19. Chapter 12 Biocultural evolution and human language diversity 359
  20. Index 381
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111293776-002

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Section I: The biolinguistic enterprise
  5. Chapter 1 A short history of biolinguistics 19
  6. Chapter 2 Biolinguistics in the context of linguistics 45
  7. Section II: The quest for interdisciplinarity and the challenges of technification
  8. Chapter 3 The naturalistic tradition of biolinguistics and the study of child phonology 91
  9. Chapter 4 Psycholinguistics and biolinguistics 119
  10. Chapter 5 New techniques in neurolinguistics 159
  11. Chapter 6 The biological basis of language: insights from genetic studies of developmental language disorders 177
  12. Section III: Theorizing biolinguistics
  13. Chapter 7 The nature of language and the structure of reality 207
  14. Chapter 8 Biolinguistics and human language evolution: On symbolism, language, and language evolution 237
  15. Section IV: Going practical: The applicability of biolinguistics findings
  16. Chapter 9 Language disorders through the lens of biolinguistics 279
  17. Chapter 10 Approaching language and aging from a biolinguistic perspective 307
  18. Chapter 11 Biolinguistics and its impact on language teaching: Achievements and prospects 331
  19. Chapter 12 Biocultural evolution and human language diversity 359
  20. Index 381
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