Readership: Linguists, phoneticians, biologists, psychologists, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethologists, neuroscientists, specialists in AI, and computer scientists, plus their advanced students. Will also interest the dedicated general reader.
Maggie Tallerman, Professor of Linguistics, Newcastle University
"...will interest a wide range of linguists, cognitive scientists, biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and experts in artificial intelligence, as well as those fascinated by issues, puzzles, and problems raised by the evolution of language." - Folia Linguistica
"...obligatory reading..." - Derek Bickerton, Journal of Linguistics, vol. 43
"Given the range of this volume, the scope of its potential readership, and the cross-disciplinary nature of the contributions, there are significant editorial challenges to which Maggie Tallerman has risen...this is a timely volume which lives up to its aim of
informing on the latest developments in what is considered to be a thriving cross-disciplinary field." - Artificial Intelligence Review
PART I Evolution of Speech and Speech Sounds: How did spoken language emerge?
Michael Studdert-Kennedy: Introduction to Part I: How did links between perception and production emerge for spoken language?
2: Michael Arbib: The Mirror System Hypothesis: How did protolanguage evolve?
3: Michael Studdert-Kennedy: How Did Language go Discrete?
4: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer: From Holistic to Discrete Speech Sounds: The blind snowflake maker hypothesis
5: Bart de Boer: Infant-Directed Speech and Evolution of Language
PART II Evolution of Grammar: How did syntax and morphology emerge?
Maggie Tallerman: Introduction to Part II: Protolanguage and the Development of Complexity
6: Maggie Tallerman: Initial Syntax and Modern Syntax: Did the clause evolve from the syllable?
7: Dana McDaniel: The Potential Role of Production in the Evolution of Syntax
8: Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy: The Evolutionary Origin of Morphology
9: Bernard Comrie and Tania Kuteva: The Evolution of Grammatical Structures and 'Functional Need' Explanations
10: Bradley Franks and Kate Rigby: Deception and Mate Selection: Some implications for relevance and the evolution of language
PART III Analogous and Homologous Traits: What can we learn from other species?
Alison Wray: Introductin to Part III: The Broadening Scope of Animal Communication Research
11: Irene Maxine Pepperberg: An Avian Perspective on Language Evolution: Implications of simultaneous development of vocal and physical object combinations by a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus)
12: Klaus Zuberbühler: Linguistic Prerequisites in the Primate Lineage
PART IV Learnability and Diversity: How did languages emerge and diverge?
James Hurford: Introduction to Part IV: Computer Modelling Widens the Focus of Language Study
13: Henry Brighton, Simon Kirby, and Kenny Smith: Cultural Selection for Learnability: Three principles underlying the view that language adapts to be learnable
14: Ted Briscoe: Coevolution of the Language Faculty and Language(s) With Decorrelated Encodings
15: Matthew Roberts, Luca Onnis, and Nick Chater: Acquisition and Evolution of Quasi-regular Languages: Two puzzles for the price of one
16: Zach Solan, Eytan Ruppin, David Horn, and Shimon Edelman: Evolution of Language Diversity: Why fitness counts
17: Andrew D. M. Smith: Mutual Exclusivity: Communicative success despite conceptual divergence