Reflections on language evolution

This essay reflects on the fact that as we learn more about the biological underpinnings of our language faculty, the dominant evolutionary narrative coming out of the linguistic tradition most explicitly oriented towards biology ("biolinguistics") appears increasingly implausible. This text offers...

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मुख्य लेखक: Boeckx, Cedric
स्वरूप: Online
भाषा:अंग्रेज़ी
प्रकाशित: Language Science Press 2022
विषय:
ऑनलाइन पहुंच:OCN: 1296692513
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author Boeckx, Cedric
author_browse Boeckx, Cedric
author_facet Boeckx, Cedric
author_sort Boeckx, Cedric
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description This essay reflects on the fact that as we learn more about the biological underpinnings of our language faculty, the dominant evolutionary narrative coming out of the linguistic tradition most explicitly oriented towards biology ("biolinguistics") appears increasingly implausible. This text offers ways of opening up linguistic inquiry and fostering interdisciplinarity, taking advantage of new opportunities to provide quantitative, testable hypotheses concerning the complex evolutionary path that led to the modern human language faculty. The essay is structured around three main themes: (i) renewed appreciation for the comparative method applied to cognitive questions, leading to the identification of elementary but fundamental abstractions in non-linguistic species relevant to language; (ii) awareness of the conceptual gaps between disciplines, and the need to carefully link genotype and phenotype without bypassing any "intermediate" levels of description (certainly not the brain); and (iii) adoption of a "philosophical" outlook that puts the complexity of biological entities front and center.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-780372026-06-12T05:57:30Z Reflections on language evolution Boeckx, Cedric Language Arts & Disciplines Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics This essay reflects on the fact that as we learn more about the biological underpinnings of our language faculty, the dominant evolutionary narrative coming out of the linguistic tradition most explicitly oriented towards biology ("biolinguistics") appears increasingly implausible. This text offers ways of opening up linguistic inquiry and fostering interdisciplinarity, taking advantage of new opportunities to provide quantitative, testable hypotheses concerning the complex evolutionary path that led to the modern human language faculty. The essay is structured around three main themes: (i) renewed appreciation for the comparative method applied to cognitive questions, leading to the identification of elementary but fundamental abstractions in non-linguistic species relevant to language; (ii) awareness of the conceptual gaps between disciplines, and the need to carefully link genotype and phenotype without bypassing any "intermediate" levels of description (certainly not the brain); and (iii) adoption of a "philosophical" outlook that puts the complexity of biological entities front and center. 2022-01-28T04:02:19Z 2022-01-28T04:02:19Z 2022-01-27T05:31:32Z 2021 book OCN: 1296692513 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/52590 9783961103287 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/78037 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52590/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52590/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52590/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52590/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52590/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/52590/1/external_content.pdf Language Science Press Language Science Press https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5524633 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5524633 ed03121b-b998-4b50-8d58-1d0745565558 Knowledge Unlatched 9783961103287 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) Language Science Press 2021-2023 Language Science Press open access
spellingShingle Language Arts & Disciplines
Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
Boeckx, Cedric
Reflections on language evolution
title Reflections on language evolution
title_full Reflections on language evolution
title_fullStr Reflections on language evolution
title_full_unstemmed Reflections on language evolution
title_short Reflections on language evolution
title_sort reflections on language evolution
topic Language Arts & Disciplines
Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
topic_facet Language Arts & Disciplines
Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
url OCN: 1296692513
work_keys_str_mv AT boeckxcedric reflectionsonlanguageevolution