Gesture and the Nature of LanguageThis book proposes a radical alternative to dominant views of the evolution of language, in particular the origins of syntax. The authors draw on evidence from areas such as primatology, anthropology, and linguistics to present a groundbreaking account of the notion that language emerged through visible bodily action. Written in a clear and accessible style, Gesture and the Nature of Language will be indispensable reading for all those interested in the origins of language. |
Contents
The universe of gesture | 5 |
12 SPEECH AS GESTURE | 8 |
13 SIGNING AS GESTURE | 11 |
14 SEMANTIC PHONOLOGY | 12 |
15 LANGUAGE AS GESTURE | 16 |
16 AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE ON LANGUAGE | 17 |
17 GRASPING SYNTAX | 21 |
The nature of gesture | 27 |
53 WHAT MUST BE MASTERED? STRUCTURE AND PLASTICITY | 126 |
54 THE CRITICAL PERIOD FOR ACQUISITION AND SPECIES SPECIFICITY | 127 |
55 A GRAMMAR GENE? | 132 |
56 PAST TENSE AND SEMIMODULARITY | 133 |
57 DISTRIBUTED NEURONAL CIRCUITS AND NEURAL DARWINISM | 139 |
58 THE NATURE OF A GESTURAL ACQUISITION THEORY | 140 |
Language from the body politic | 143 |
62 MOVEMENT BRAIN SOCIETY LANGUAGE | 149 |
21 COMPARING SIGN AND SPEECH | 28 |
22 WHAT IS GESTURE? | 38 |
23 SPEECH AS GESTURE | 42 |
24 THE TWO FACES OF GESTURE | 46 |
25 PERCEPTUAL CATEGORIZATION | 48 |
26 THE ROLE OF MOTOR ACTIONS IN PERCEPTION | 50 |
27 GLOBAL MAPPINGS PRECONCEPTS AND PRESYNTAX | 53 |
28 EVENT COGNITION AND LANGUAGE | 54 |
SEEING LANGUAGE | 57 |
Are signed and spoken languages differently organized? | 64 |
32 DESCRIBING SIGNED LANGUAGE | 69 |
33 SEEKING ORGANIZATIONAL SIMILARITY AT THE SUBLEXICAL LEVEL | 71 |
34 LOOKING AT DIFFERENCES | 80 |
35 SUMMARY | 88 |
Is language modular? | 92 |
42 MODULARITY AND CEREBRAL LOCALIZATION | 94 |
43 PLASTICITY AND ASSOCIATIONISM | 95 |
44 LINGUISTIC MODALITY AND MODULARITY | 97 |
45 SPATIAL SYNTAX AND THE LEFT BRAIN | 100 |
MODULES AND ISOMORPHS | 102 |
47 COARTICULATION IN SPEECH AND SIGN | 106 |
48 MODULARISM VERSUS ASSOCIATIONISM | 115 |
Do we have a genetically programmed drive to acquire language? | 121 |
51 UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR | 122 |
52 ARE THERE GENETICALLY DETERMINED MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT? | 123 |
The origin of syntax gesture as name and relation | 161 |
72 THE SECOND SUBSYSTEM | 166 |
73 LANGUAGE FROM THE WHOLE BRAIN | 167 |
74 SIGN LANGUAGES AND MANUAL GESTURES | 174 |
75 GESTURAL SYNTAX | 176 |
76 THE TREE IN THE SEED | 178 |
77 THE OPENING OF THE SEED | 182 |
78 LANGUAGE COEVOLVING WITH CULTURE | 186 |
79 ELABORATING THE PATTERN | 187 |
710 GESTURE AND ICONICITY | 191 |
711 SIGNALING SYNTAX | 194 |
Language from the body an evolutionary perspective | 198 |
81 THE HOMINID ADAPTIVE COMPLEX | 199 |
GRADUALISM INCREMENTALISM AND PUNCTUATION | 203 |
83 EVOLUTION OF CEREBRAL ASYMMETRY | 209 |
84 THE HOMINID LIFE STYLE | 214 |
85 THE ANCESTRAL STOCK | 215 |
86 HOMINID SOCIAL BEHAVIOR | 217 |
87 ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE | 223 |
88 LANGUAGE AND LONGEVITY AS EVOLUTIONARY PROBLEMS | 230 |
FINAL METAPHORS | 234 |
References | 237 |
| 255 | |
| 259 | |
Other editions - View all
Gesture and the Nature of Language David F. Armstrong,William C. Stokoe,Sherman E. Wilcox No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
ability acoustic activity American Sign Language animals argue argument articulators articulatory associationism associationist australopithecines Bellugi biological bipedalism brain Broca's area cerebral cerebral hemisphere Chapter chimpanzees coarticulation cognitive communication complex concept deaf described Edelman environment epenthesis evidence evolution of language evolutionary evolved example fingerspelling function genetic grammar grandmother hypothesis groups guage hand handshape hemisphere hominids Homo Homo erectus human language iconic interaction involved Kendon Klima Langacker language acquisition Lieberman linguistic meaning metaphor modular module morphemes motor movements natural Neandertals neural neural Darwinism neurological neuronal nouns objects organization pattern perception phonetic physical Pinker primary sign languages primates problem produce proposed relations segments selection semantic phonology sentences sequence sequential signals signed and spoken signer social behavior sounds spatial species speech spoken languages Stokoe structure suggests symbolic syntactic syntax theory tion verb visible gestures visual vocal gestures vocal tract words
Popular passages
Page 1 - A curious thing about the ontological problem is its simplicity. It can be put in three Anglo-Saxon monosyllables: 'What is there?' It can be answered, moreover, in a word — 'Everything' — and everyone will accept this answer as true. However, this is merely to say that there is what there is. There remains room for disagreement over cases; and so the issue has stayed alive down the centuries.