32.3531, Books: Reflections on language evolution: Boeckx

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-3531. Mon Nov 08 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.3531, Books: Reflections on language evolution: Boeckx

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Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2021 09:21:52
From: Sebastian Nordhoff [Sebastian.Nordhoff at langsci-press.org]
Subject: Reflections on language evolution: Boeckx

 


Title: Reflections on language evolution 
Subtitle: From minimalism to pluralism 
Series Title: Conceptual Foundations of Language Science  

Publication Year: 2021 
Publisher: Language Science Press
	   http://langsci-press.org
	

Book URL: https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/142 


Author: Cedric Boeckx

Electronic: ISBN:  9783961103287 Pages: 76 Price: Europe EURO 0 Comment: Open Access


Abstract:

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.
 



Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science


Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=157254




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