Language and Species - Softcover

Bickerton, Derek

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226046117 ISBN 13: 9780226046112

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1992

Synopsis

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

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Language and Species presents the most detailed and well-documented scenario to date of the origins of language.

About the Author:

Derek Bickerton is professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Hawaii and is the author of several books, including Roots of Language.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0226046117
• ISBN 13: 9780226046112
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 305