Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T11:08:34.935Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Language is fundamentally a social affair

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2005

Justin H. G. Williams
Justin H. G. Williams*
Affiliation:
Department of Child Health, University of Aberdeen School of Medicine, Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, AberdeenAB25 2ZG, Scotland, United Kingdomhttp://www.abdn.ac.uk/child_health/williams.hti
*
justin.Williams@abdn.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Perhaps the greatest evolutionary advantage conferred by spoken language was its ability to communicate mentalistic concepts, rather than just extending the vocabulary of action already served by an imitation function. An appreciation that the mirror-neuron system served a simple mentalising function before gestural communication sets Arbib's theory in a more appropriate social cognitive context.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 146 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)