Language Evolution: The Windows Approach (Approaches to the Evolution of Language) - Softcover

Botha, Rudolf

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1316501078 ISBN 13: 9781316501078

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2016

Synopsis

How can we unravel the evolution of language, given that there is no direct evidence about it? Rudolf Botha addresses this intriguing question in his fascinating new book. Inferences can be drawn about language evolution from a range of other phenomena, serving as windows into this prehistoric process. These include shell-beads, fossil skulls and ancestral brains, modern pidgin and creole languages, homesign systems and emergent sign languages, modern motherese, language use of modern hunter-gatherers, first language acquisition, similarities between language and music, and comparative animal behaviour. The first systematic analysis of the Windows Approach, it will be of interest to students and researchers in many disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, palaeontology and primatology, as well as anyone interested in how language evolved.

About this title

Book Description

The lack of direct evidence about language evolution makes it notoriously difficult to study. The Windows Approach gleans indirect evidence about it from phenomena such as fossil skulls, prehistoric shell-beads, homesign systems, pidgin languages and motherese. Botha elucidates, analyses and appraises this approach in detail.

About the Author

Rudolf Botha is Emeritus Professor of General Linguistics at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and Honorary Professor of Linguistics at Utrecht Institute of Linguistics, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1316501078
• ISBN 13: 9781316501078
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 230