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Did Neanderthals have language, and if so, what was it like? Scientists agree overall that the behaviour and cognition of Neanderthals resemble that of early modern humans in important ways. However, the existence and nature of Neanderthal language remains a controversial topic. The first in-depth treatment of this intriguing subject, this book comes to the unique conclusion that, collective hunting is a better window on Neanderthal language than other behaviours. It argues that Neanderthal hunters employed linguistic signs akin to those of modern language, but lacked complex grammar. Rudolf Botha unpacks and appraises important inferences drawn by researchers working in relevant braches of archaeology and other prehistorical fields, and uses a large range of multidisciplinary literature to bolster his arguments. An important contribution to this lively field, this book will become a landmark book for students and scholars alike, in essence, illuminating Neanderthals' linguistic powers.
This study of reduplication in Afrikaans provides a unified and principled analysis of an unusual and highly complex word formation process, shedding new light on the scope and content of various fundamental lexicalist principles of word formation.
Addresses the question: how can we unravel the evolution of language, given that there is no direct evidence about it?
What blocks the way to a better understanding of language evolution, it is widely held, is above all a paucity of factual evidence. Not so, argues Unravelling the Evolution of Language. This book finds the main obstacle, instead, in a poverty of a specific kind of theory—restrictive theory. It shows, too, that this poverty of restrictive theory is one of the root causes of the paucity of factual evidence. "Unravelling"...takes it that a theory of a thing T—for example, language—is restrictive if it gives us a basis for distinguishing T in a non-arbitrary way from all things that are in fact distinct from it, including those that happen to be related to it. The book then argues in detai...
How can we unravel the evolution of language, given that there is no direct evidence about it? Rudolf Botha addresses this intriguing question in his fascinating new book. Inferences can be drawn about language evolution from a range of other phenomena, serving as windows into this prehistoric process. These include shell-beads, fossil skulls and ancestral brains, modern pidgin and creole languages, homesign systems and emergent sign languages, modern motherese, language use of modern hunter-gatherers, first language acquisition, similarities between language and music, and comparative animal behaviour. The first systematic analysis of the Windows Approach, it will be of interest to students and researchers in many disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, palaeontology and primatology, as well as anyone interested in how language evolved.
No detailed description available for "Methodological Aspects of Transformational Generative Phonology".
This book contains an updated discussion of the most relevant theoretical and methodological aspects, as well as the most important findings of biolinguistics. This field of linguistics is specifically concerned with the biological aspects of language. In doing so, the volume takes a timely look at the different angles of biolinguistics research, in particular considering its multidisciplinary, technical, theoretical, and applied approaches. The volume provides a comprehensive, in-depth, and state-of-the-art overview of the biolinguistics quest, bringing together the most outstanding contributions on exciting subfields such as language evolution, language acquisition, neuro- and psycholinguistics, or clinical linguistics.