The Social Origins of Language by Seyfarth, Robert

The Social Origins of Language (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780691177236)

Vendor: Robert Seyfarth
Product type: Books
Format: Hardcover
$37.00
$37.00
$37.00
Subtotal: $37.00
The Social Origins of Language by Seyfarth, Robert

The Social Origins of Language

$37.00
The Social Origins of Language by Seyfarth, Robert

The Social Origins of Language

$37.00
Format: Hardcover
Description
Description
x

How human language evolved from the need for social communication

The origins of human language remain hotly debated. Despite growing appreciation of cognitive and neural continuity between humans and other animals, an evolutionary account of human language--in its modern form--remains as elusive as ever. The Social Origins of Language provides a novel perspective on this question and charts a new path toward its resolution.

In the lead essay, Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney draw on their decades-long pioneering research on monkeys and baboons in the wild to show how primates use vocalizations to modulate social dynamics. They argue that key elements of human language emerged from the need to decipher and encode complex social interactions. In other words, social communication is the biological foundation upon which evolution built more complex language.

Seyfarth and Cheney's argument serves as a jumping-off point for responses by John McWhorter, Ljiljana Progovac, Jennifer E. Arnold, Benjamin Wilson, Christopher I. Petkov and Peter Godfrey-Smith, each of whom draw on their respective expertise in linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. Michael Platt provides an introduction, Seyfarth and Cheney a concluding essay. Ultimately, The Social Origins of Language offers thought-provoking viewpoints on how human language evolved.

Author: Robert Seyfarth, Dorothy Cheney
ISBN-10: 0691177236
ISBN-13: 9780691177236
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Language: English
Published: 12/05/2017
Pages: 184
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.70w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2018
By Robert Seyfarth
By Robert Seyfarth
x
Robert M. Seyfarth is professor of psychology and Dorothy L. Cheney is professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania. They are the coauthors of How Monkeys See the World: Inside the Mind of Another Species and Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind. Michael L. Platt is the James S. Riepe University Professor of neuroscience, psychology, and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania.

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