000 03007cam a2200361 i 4500
999 _c79713
_d316990
001 927241552
003 OCoLC
005 20220314120624.0
008 151026s2016 mauaf b 001 0 eng
010 _a2015038384
020 _a9780262533492
024 8 _a40026258215
035 _a(OCoLC)927241552
040 _aDLC
_beng
_erda
_cDLC
_dPUL
_dBTCTA
_dBDX
_dYDXCP
_dYAM
_dS3O
_dVP@
_dGO3
_dGYG
_dYUS
_dSTF
042 _apcc
050 0 0 _aP118
_b.B475 2016
082 0 0 _a401.93
_223
_bBRW
100 1 _aBerwick, Robert C.,
_eauthor
_989425
245 1 0 _aWhy only us :
_blanguage and evolution /
_cRobert C. Berwick, Noam Chomsky
264 1 _aCambridge, Massachusetts :
_bMIT Press,
_c[2016]
300 _a215 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates :
_billustrations (some color) ;
_c21 cm
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references and index
505 0 _aChapter 1. Why now? -- Chapter 2. Biolinguistics evolving -- Chapter 3. Language architecture and its import for evolution -- Chapter 4. Triangles in the brain -- References
520 _aWe are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language - "the language faculty" - raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars - a computer scientist and a linguist - addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language. Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear idea of how to define "language" and therefore what it was that had evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of human language and what distinguishes us from all other animals. Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world; the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding; the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds. -- from dust jacket
650 0 _aLanguage acquisition
_xPsychological aspects
_989426
650 0 _aHuman evolution
_xPsychological aspects
_989427
650 0 _aMinimalist theory (Linguistics)
_989428
650 0 _aBiolinguistics
_96782
650 0 _aPsycholinguistics
_989429
700 1 _aChomsky, Noam,
_eauthor
_989430
856 4 1 _3MIT CogNet
_uhttp://cognet.mit.edu/book/why-only-us
_yMITCogNet
_zAvailable to Stanford-affiliated users
942 _2ddc
_cBOOK