Genesis of Grammar : A Reconstruction.
Title:
Genesis of Grammar : A Reconstruction.
Author:
Heine, Bernd.
ISBN:
9780191527838
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (437 pages)
Series:
Studies in the Evolution of Language, No. 9 ; v.No. 9
Studies in the Evolution of Language, No. 9
Contents:
Contents -- Preface -- List of abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Questions and approaches -- 1.1.1 Previous work -- 1.1.2 Assumptions -- 1.1.3 The present approach -- 1.1.4 On uniformitarianism -- 1.2 Grammaticalization -- 1.2.1 Methodology -- 1.2.2 Problems -- 1.3 The present volume -- 2 An outline of grammatical evolution -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Layers -- 2.2.1 Nouns and verbs -- 2.2.2 The third layer: adjectives and adverbs -- 2.2.3 The fourth layer: demonstratives, adpositions, aspects, and negation -- 2.2.4 The fifth layer -- 2.2.5 The final stages -- 2.2.6 Treating events like objects -- 2.3 Evidence from signed languages -- 2.4 A scenario of evolution -- 2.5 Conclusions -- 3 Some cognitive abilities of animals -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 What linguistic abilities do animals have? -- 3.2.1 Communicative intentions -- 3.2.2 Concepts -- 3.2.3 ''Lexicon'' -- 3.2.4 Functional items -- 3.2.5 Compositionality -- 3.2.6 Argument structure -- 3.2.7 Linear arrangement -- 3.2.8 Coordination -- 3.2.9 Taxonomic concepts -- 3.3 Discussion -- 3.3.1 Problems -- 3.3.2 Language-like abilities in animals -- 3.3.3 Grammaticalization in animals? -- 3.4 Conclusion -- 4 On pidgins and other restricted linguistic systems -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Kenya Pidgin Swahili (KPS) -- 4.3 The rise of new functional categories -- 4.4 Discussion -- 4.5 Grammaticalization in other pidgins -- 4.6 A pidgin window on early language? -- 4.7 Other restricted systems -- 4.8 An elementary linguistic system? -- 4.9 Conclusion -- 5 Clause subordination -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Expansion -- 5.3 Integration -- 5.3.1 Relative clauses -- 5.3.2 Complement clauses -- 5.3.3 Adverbial clauses -- 5.3.4 From complementizer or relativizer to adverbial clause subordinator -- 5.4 Discussion -- 5.5 Conclusions -- 6 On the rise of recursion -- 6.1 What is recursion? -- 6.1.1 A definition.
6.1.2 Manifestations -- 6.1.3 Simple vs. productive recursion -- 6.1.4 Embedding, iteration, and succession -- 6.1.5 Treatment of recursion in linguistic description -- 6.1.6 Are there languages without recursion? -- 6.1.7 Discussion -- 6.2 Animal cognition -- 6.3 The noun phrase -- 6.3.1 Attributive possession -- 6.3.2 Modifying compounding -- 6.3.3 Adjectival modification -- 6.3.4 Conclusion -- 6.4 Clause subordination -- 6.4.1 Case studies -- 6.5 Loss of recursion -- 6.6 Conclusions -- 7 Early language -- 7.1 Grammatical evolution -- 7.1.1 Layers -- 7.1.2 From non-language to language -- 7.1.3 Lexicon before syntax -- 7.1.4 Word order -- 7.1.5 Functions of early language -- 7.1.6 Who were the creators of early language? -- 7.1.7 Did language arise abruptly? -- 7.2 Grammaticalization-a human faculty? -- 7.3 Looking for answers -- 7.4 Conclusions -- References -- Index -- Author index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z -- Subject Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Language Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z.
Abstract:
This book reconstructs what the earliest grammars might have been and shows how they could have led to the languages of modern humankind. It considers whether these languages derive from a single ancestral language; what the structure of language was when it first evolved; and how the properties associated with modern human languages first arose. - ;"This book reconstructs what the earliest grammars might have been and shows how they could have led to the languages of modern humankind. "Like other biological phenomena, language cannot be fully understood without reference to its evolution, whether proven or hypothesized," wrote Talmy Giv--oacute--;n in 2002. As the languages spoken 8,000 years ago were typologically much the same as they are today and as no direct evidence exists for languages before then, evolutionary linguists are at a disadvantage compared to their counterparts in biology. Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva seek to overcome this obstacle by combining. grammaticalization theory, one of the main methods of historical linguistics, with work in animal communication and human evolution. The questions they address include: do the modern languages derive from one ancestral language or from more than one? What was the structure of language like when it first evolved? And how. did the properties associated with modern human languages arise, in particular syntax and the recursive use of language structures? The authors proceed on the assumption that if language evolution is the result of language change then the reconstruction of the former can be explored by deploying the processes involved in the latter. Their measured arguments and crystal-clear exposition will appeal to all those interested in the evolution of language, from advanced undergraduates to linguists,. cognitive scientists, human biologists, and archaeologists. - ;Heine and
Kutevas book is a wonderful, illuminating, exhaustive introduction to the subject of language evolution. It affords the reader a wide-ranging, comprehensive overview of the topic and relevant literature. It outlines the core issues, notes the perennial puzzles, and wades boldly into the bitter controversies that have dogged the discussion ever since its inception. Above all, the book reminds us that, however frustrating the topic may be, a true understanding of the. phenomenon of language, and thus of human culture and cognition, is only possible within an evolutionary framework. - Talmy Giv--oacute--;n, Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Oregon;Heine and Kuteva's The Genesis of Grammar is a major contribution to the rapidly burgeoning literature on the origins and evolution of human language. They draw on their decades of research on the phenomenon of grammaticalization to draw plausible conjectures about what the first human language might have looked like. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fresh perspective on this challenging and fascinating problem. - Frederick J. Newmeyer, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, University of Washington.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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