Language & species

Author(s)

• Bickerton, Derek

Bibliographic Information

Language & species

Derek Bickerton

University of Chicago Press, 1992

• : pbk

Other Title

Language and species

Note

Includes bibliography (p. 273-290) and index

Description and Table of Contents

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

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA38672628
• ISBN:
  • 0226046117
• LCCN: 90035922
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Chicago
• Pages/Volumes: x, 297 p.
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : P116
  • DC20 : 401
  • NDC8 : 801.01
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Language and languages -- Origin
  • LCSH : Human evolution