Beschrijving
Titel en schrijver |
Adam’s Tongue, Derek Bickerton |
ISBN nr. |
ISBN-13: 978-0-8090-2281-6
ISBN-10: 0-8090-2281-6 |
Uitgeverij, drukjaar en drukversie |
Hill and Wang |
Paperback of hardcover |
Hardcover |
Aantal pagina’s |
249 |
Taal en categorie |
Engels, Studieboek |
Korte samenvatting |
How language evolved has been called “the hardest problem in science.” In Adam’s Tongue, Derek Bickerton—long a leading authority in this field—shows how and why previous attempts to solve that problem have fallen short. Taking cues from topics as diverse as the foraging strategies of ants, the distribution of large prehistoric herbivores, and the construction of ecological niches, Bickerton produces a dazzling new alternative to the conventional wisdom.
Language is unique to humans, but it isn’t the only thing that sets us apart from other species—our cognitive powers are qualitatively different. So could there be two separate discontinuities between humans and the rest of nature? No, says Bickerton; he shows how the mere possession of symbolic units—words—automatically opened a new and different cognitive universe, one that yielded novel innovations ranging from barbed arrowheads to the Apollo spacecraft. Written in Bickerton’s lucid and irreverent style, this book is the first that thoroughly integrates the story of how language evolved with the story of how humans evolved. Sure to be controversial, it will make indispensable reading both for experts in the field and for every reader who has ever wondered how a species as remarkable as ours could have come into existence. |
Over de auteur |
Derek Bickerton is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii. His most recent book, Bastard Tongues, was published by Hill and Wang in 2008. |
Recensies |
“The Great puzzle of how human language evolved, and hoe wit relates to animal communication, is tackled here with enthusiasm and directness by the always interesting Derek Bickerton. Being neither a complete gruadualist nor a believer in Devine sparks, the author touches and all the issues and posistions that hotly debated today” Frans de Waal, Professor of Psychology, Emory Univerity,and author of Our Inner Aper: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Who We Are. |
Beschadigingen |
Het boek is zo goed als nieuw. |
