000			02889cam a2200349 i 4500
999			_c79751 _d317028
001			927241552
003			OCoLC
005			20220314183407.0
008			151026s2016 mauaf b 001 0 eng
010			_a2015038384
020			_a9780198817833
024	8		_a40026258215
040			_aDLC _beng _erda _cDLC _dSTF
042			_apcc
050	0	0	_aP118 _b.B475 2016
082	0	0	_a401.93 _223 _bDRA
100			_aDixon, R.M.W _989572
245	1	0	_aAre Some Languages Better than Others / _cR. M. W. Dixon.
264		1	_aCambridge, Massachusetts : _bMIT Press, _c[2016]
300			_a275 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