The Talking Ape: How Language Evolved

✍ Scribed by Robbins Burling

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 297
• Series: Studies in the Evolution of Language
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Humans never run out of things to say. We explain, we cajole, we gossip, and we flirt--all with the help of language. But how in the space of several million years did we evolve from an ordinary primate that that could not talk to the strange human primate that can't shut up? In this fascinating, thought-provoking book, Robbins Burling presents the most convincing account of the origins of language ever published, shedding new light on how speech affects the way we think, behave, and relate to each other, and offering us a deeper understanding of the nature of language itself. Burling argues that comprehension, rather than production, was the driving force behind the evolution of language--we could understand words before we could produce them. As he develops this insight, he investigates the first links between signs, sounds, and meanings and explores the beginnings of vocabulary and grammar. He explains what the earliest forms of communication are likely to have been, how they worked, and why they were deployed, suggesting that when language began it was probably much more dependent on words like "poke" or "whoosh," words whose sounds have a close association with what they refer to. Only gradually did language develop the immense vocabulary it has today. Burling also examines the qualities of mind and brain needed to support the operations of language and the selective advantages they offered those able to use them. Written in a crystal-clear style, constantly enlivened by flashes of wit and humor, here is the definitive account on the birth of language.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 10
1. IN THE BEGINNING......Page 12
2. SMILES, WINKS, AND WORDS......Page 34
3. TRUTHS AND LIES......Page 59
4. THE MIND AND LANGUAGE......Page 76
5. SIGNS AND SYMBOLS......Page 103
6. ICONS GAINED AND ICONS LOST......Page 116
7. FROM A FEW SOUNDS TO MANY WORDS......Page 133
8. SYNTAX: WIRED AND LEARNED......Page 156
9. STEP-BY-STEP TO GRAMMAR......Page 175
10. POWER, GOSSIP, AND SEDUCTION......Page 192
11. WHAT HAS LANGUAGE DONE TO US?......Page 221
Notes......Page 245
D......Page 257
G......Page 258
M......Page 259
Q......Page 260
V......Page 261
Bibliography......Page 262
B......Page 280
C......Page 281
E......Page 284
G......Page 285
H......Page 286
I......Page 287
L......Page 288
M......Page 289
P......Page 291
R......Page 293
S......Page 294
T......Page 295
V......Page 296
Z......Page 297