Language Evolution and Syntactic Theory (Approaches to the Evolution of Language)
Cambridge University Press, 8/31/2009
EAN 9780521895309, ISBN10: 0521895308
Hardcover, 225 pages, 23.4 x 15.7 x 1.7 cm
Language: English
Evolution has not typically been recognised by linguists as a constraining factor when developing linguistic theories. This book demonstrates that our theories of language must reflect the fact that language has evolved. It critiques a currently dominant framework in the field of linguistics - the Minimalist Program - by showing how it fails to take evolution into account. It approaches the question of the evolution of human language in a novel way by applying findings from the field of evolutionary biology to language. Key properties associated with typically evolving systems are identified in language, and the shortcomings of the Minimalist Program in its outright rejection of these features are exposed. The book will be of interest to individual researchers and advanced students in linguistics, psychology, biology, anthropology and cognitive science.
1. Constraining our theory of language
2. Language as a perfect system
3. Language as an evolvable system
4. Language as a recursive system
5. Language as a minimal system
6. Towards an evolvable theory of syntax.