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  3. Language Evolution
  • Cited by 18
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      March 2016
      March 2016
      ISBN:
      9781316471449
      9781107135130
      9781316501078
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316471449
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.59kg, 230 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.48kg, 230 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Evolution of Language, Psychology, Cognition, Language and Linguistics
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    Subjects:
    Evolution of Language, Psychology, Cognition, Language and Linguistics
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    Book description

    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.

    Reviews

    ‘In 2006, Rudie Botha launched an all out attack on the legitimacy of the claim that the South African archaeological site of Blombos had evidence of 'fully syntactic' language 75,000 years ago. No one has been able to counter the logic of his argument, and this book applies that same relentless, illuminating logic to other claims in the study of language origins. In doing so, Botha shows just how carefully any claims must be justified, and just how powerful his Windows Approach is. Students and researchers in archaeology, primatology, linguistics, and comparative ethology cannot ignore this book.'

    Iain Davidson - University of New England

    'This book will prove to be a milestone in the field … a meticulous, rigorous, and yet highly readable guide.'

    Paul T. Roberge - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

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