Origins and evolution of language
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Recent papers in Origins and evolution of language
Chomsky vs. Darwin: Debates on Universal Grammar, the Origin of Language, and Evolution 1. Introduction 2. What Does the “Chomsky Revolution” Mean? 3. History of “Universal Grammar” 4. Why Is There “Universal Grammar” according to... more
This overview paper presents the leading theories which attempt to explain the emergence of one of the prominent features specific to our species – the protruding chin. Established theories discussing this phenomenon include the effect of... more
McKenna, D. (2022, January). Psychedelics and evolution: The stoned ape theory . Invited talk for the Psychedelicacies Salon at the Viktor Wynd's Museum of Curiosities & Last Tuesday Society (online), 30th January. Hosted and curated by... more
Vibram's FiveFingers shoes may provide clues to the bodily origins of double-scope conceptual blending, one of the pillars of contemporary cognitive linguistics.
Short notes on the Origin of Language
The intonation of Donald Trump's speech demonstrates frequent use of a level tone in the nuclear syllable. Unlike other dynamic nuclear tones, the Level tone is 'bleached ' of any real interactional meaning, which can therefore express... more
Učebný text približuje odpovede na otázky, ako sa dajú vysvetliť niektoré paradoxy v evolučnom vysvetlení vzniku jazyka, aká je úloha rytmu v synchronizácii ako prerekvizite spolupráce a súdržnosti, aké je miesto rituálu vo vysvetlení... more
Symbolic artefacts have long been archaeology's primary contribution to tracing the origin and subsequent development of human language. But the identification and interpretation of symbolic behaviour poses numerous interpretive problems,... more
This teaching aid reviews the major evolutionary landmarks that over the last sixty million years marked the development of intelligence in Homo sapiens. The discussion begins with social primates and charts the adaptations that... more
The paper is divided into two parts respectively published in the proceedings of the X. Leibniz-Kongress as: “Leibniz on the Role of Innate Ideas in Human Cognition” in: „Für unserer Glück oder das Glück anderer.“ Vorträge des X.... more
The origins of human language are presented as the outcome not of human genetics, but of the necessities of communication as human society developed on the basis of cooperative labour.
The paper deals with the topic of the evolution of speech and language and aims to, through a multidisciplinary approach and based on different material and available data and results, answer the question of the appearance of modern... more
A meta-pattern-analysis of the mitochondrial DNA phylotree and current distribution of language families indicates that over the last 200,000 years there are robust correspondences between mtDNA haplogroups and language macrofamilies.... more
This revision includes new mtDNA dating for San in Rito et al (2019) and its inference that Khoisan language family originated in southern Africa with later migration into East Africa. I revised the dates, though I have some doubts about... more
In this article, I deal with the historical development of the Japanese language by applying a multi-disciplinary approach that uses data from a variety of fields. My research indicates that the home-land of the Japonic language family... more
This article considers natural signs and their role in the origin of language. Natural signs, sometimes called primary signs, are connected with their signified by causal relationships, concomitance, or likeliness. And their acquisition... more
According to embodied realism theory developed by Lakoff & Johnson (1980, 1999), image schemas, which constitute primary representations of bodily experience, are responsible for the structuring of the conseptual system in the human mind.... more
Summary. Section (1) explains why the Derveni papyrus has often been misunderstood: among the main reasons are the wrong label «Orphic» and the confusion of two types of pantheism in Greek thought: the ethico- religious and the... more
"In 1917 Bodouen de Courtenay observed two lines of level complication of language units: metrical line → syllables → prosodic (phonological) word etc., and syntactic one → morphemes → grammatical words etc. There is a special mechanism... more
This project analyses a wide range of current literature concerning the origins and evolution of language. A major focus is on constraining the time in which language evolved, covering recent and gradual origins hypotheses. Included are... more
This chapter wraps up for us the discussion of the evolution of music. It has been one the most difficult problems for even formulating the proper research questions clearly. One view is that science may not yet have at its disposal the... more
In this paper, the hypothesis of Gr. Kapantsian concerning the formation of the Armenian language is presented through a comprehensive discussion of his works published in different years. Then, it is described in coarse lines... more
The topic of language evolution is characterised by the scarcity of records, but also by a large flow of research produced within multiple subtopics and perspectives. Over the past few decades, significant advancement has been made on the... more
Contrary to popular opinion, the recent interest in the role of slaves and Khoikhoi in the genesis of Afrikaans is not merely a reaction to current political realities. Instead, Afrikaans historical linguistics originated at the turn of... more
The inference of Neanderthal cognition, including their cultural and linguistic capabilities, has persisted as a fiercely debated research topic for decades. This lack of consensus is substantially based on inherent uncertainties in... more
Humans' capacity for so-called symbolic cognition is often invoked by evolutionary theorists, and in particular archeologists, when attempting to explain human cognitive and behavioral uniqueness. But what is meant by "symbolic cognition"... more
This paper will explore Trần Đức Thảo's (Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh, September 26 th , 1917 – Paris, April 24 th , 1993) work from historical, philosophical, and linguistic points of view. Most notably it will focus on Thảo's Recherches sur... more
This paper deals with questions of language evolution and discusses the emergence of linguistic communication systems in the framework of a co-evolving continuum of language, culture and cognition. Different approaches have tried to... more
Habitual upright posture is a hallmark of human evolution, but the roles it has played in the development of human cognition, linguistic modelling and social construction receive little attention. This chapter builds on earlier work in... more
This article revisits the controversy inaugurated in 1833 with the publication of De Aristotelis categoriis, a work in which F.A. Trendelenburg’s affirms that Aristotle’s ‘categories of Being’ are merely replicas of the grammatical... more
Il 22 novembre 2002 Marc D. Hauser, Noam Chomsky e W. Tecumseh Fitch pubblicano, su “Science”, un articolo dal titolo “The Faculty of Language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve?”. Intendono: indirizzare le future ricerche... more
This should be a watershed book as it effectively demolishes the unwarranted assumptions that support the work of the major linguist of our times, Noam Chomsky. Instead of regarding language as predominantly computation and only... more
This thesis examines the earliest evidence of writing in Egypt and, in particular, it evaluates the way in which the material has been approached by scholars. This work challenges and attempts to build upon methodologies employed in prior... more