22.3434, Books: Anthropological Ling/Cognitive Science/Semantics/Syntax: Hurford

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LINGUIST List: Vol-22-3434. Wed Aug 31 2011. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 22.3434, Books: Anthropological Ling/Cognitive Science/Semantics/Syntax: Hurford

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1)
Date: 31-Aug-2011
From: Jeri Dash [jeri.dash at oup.com]
Subject: The Origins of Grammar: Hurford
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:23:00
From: Jeri Dash [jeri.dash at oup.com]
Subject: The Origins of Grammar: Hurford

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Title: The Origins of Grammar 
Subtitle: Language in the Light of Evolution II 
Series Title: Oxford Studies in the Evolution of Language  

Publication Year: 2011 
Publisher: Oxford University Press
	   http://www.oup.com/us
	

Book URL: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199207879.do 


Author: James Hurford

Hardback: ISBN:  9780199207879 Pages: 808 Price: U.K. £ 35.00


Abstract:

This is the second of the two closely linked but self-contained volumes that 
comprise James Hurford's acclaimed exploration of the biological evolution of
language. In the first book he looked at the evolutionary origins of meaning, 
ending as our distant ancestors were about to step over the brink to modern 
language. He now considers how that step might have been taken and the 
consequences it undoubtedly had.

The capacity for language lets human beings formulate and express an 
unlimited range of propositions about real or fictitious worlds. It allows them 
to communicate these propositions, often overlaid with layers of nuance and 
irony, to other humans who can then interpret and respond to them. These 
processes take place at breakneck speed. Using a language means learning 
a vast number of arbitrary connections between forms and meanings and 
rules on how to manipulate them, both of which a normal human child can do 
in its first few years of life. James Hurford looks at how this miracle came 
about.

The book is divided into three parts. In the first the author surveys the 
syntactic structures evident in the communicative behaviour of animals, such 
as birds and whales, and discusses how vocabularies of learned symbols 
could have evolved and the effects this had on human thought. In the second 
he considers how far the evolution of grammar depended on biological or 
cultural factors. In the third and final part he describes the probable route by 
which the human language faculty and languages evolved from simple 
beginnings to their present complex state. 



Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics
                     Cognitive Science
                     Semantics
                     Syntax


Written In: English  (eng)
	
See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=57429





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