The Evolution of Human Language

Scenarios, principles, and cultural dynamics

Wolfgang Wildgen | University of Bremen

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027251930 (Eur) | EUR 90.00

ISBN 9781588115188 (USA) | USD 135.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027295453 | EUR 90.00 | USD 135.00

Netlibrary e-Book – Not for resale

ISBN 9781423772330

Wolfgang Wildgen presents three perspectives on the evolution of language as a key element in the evolution of mankind in terms of the development of human symbol use. (1) He approaches this question by constructing possible scenarios in which mechanisms necessary for symbolic behavior could have developed, on the basis of the state of the art in evolutionary anthropology and genetics. (2) Non-linguistic symbolic behavior such as cave art is investigated as an important clue to the developmental background to the origin of language. Creativity and innovation and a population's ability to integrate individual experiments are considered with regard to historical examples of symbolic creativity in the visual arts and natural sciences. (3) Probable linguistic 'fossils' of such linguistic innovations are examined.

The results of this study allow for new proposals for a 'protolanguage' and for a theory of language within a broader philosophical and semiotic framework, and raises interesting questions as to human consciousness, universal grammar, and linguistic methodology. (Series B)

[Advances in Consciousness Research, 57] 2004. xii, 240 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/aicr.57

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments | p. xi

1. Introduction | p. 1

2. Basic scenarios and forces in the evolution of human language | p. 5

3. Expression and appeal in animal and human communication with special consideration of laughter | p. 25

4. The evolution of cognitive control in tool-making and tool-use and the emergence of a theory of mind | p. 43

5. The evolution of pre-historic art and the transition to writing systems | p. 61

6. Symbolic creativity in language, art, and science and the cultural dynamics of symbolic forms | p. 93

7. “Fossils” of evolution in the lexicon of HAND and EYE (mainly in German, English and French) | p. 137

8. The form of a “protolanguage” and the contours of a theory of language evolution | p. 159

9. Symbolic forms, generalized media, and their evolution | p. 185

10. Consciousness, linguistic universals, and the methodology of linguistics | p. 199

Notes | p. 209

Index of proper names | p. 229

Subject index | p. 233

Index of principles and hypotheses | p. 237

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2019. THE REFORMATTING OF HOMO SAPIENS. Angelaki 24:1 ► pp. 55 ff.

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Gao, J. L., R. T. F. Cheung, Y. S. Chan, L. W. Chu & T. M. C. Lee

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Perotti, J. I., H.‐H. Jo, A. L. Schaigorodsky & O. V. Billoni

2013. Innovation and nested preferential growth in chess playing behavior. EPL (Europhysics Letters) 104:4 ► pp. 48005 ff.

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Lassègue, Jean, Victor Rosenthal & Yves-Marie Visetti

2009. Économie symbolique et phylogenèse du langage. L'Homme :192 ► pp. 67 ff.

Behme, Christina & S. Hélène Deacon

2008. Language Learning in Infancy: Does the Empirical Evidence Support a Domain Specific Language Acquisition Device?. Philosophical Psychology 21:5 ► pp. 641 ff.

Lassègue, Jean

2007. Une réinterprétation de la notion de forme symbolique dans un scénario récent d'émergence de la culture. Revue de métaphysique et de morale n° 54:2 ► pp. 221 ff.

Lee-Jahnke, Hannelore

2005. New Cognitive Approaches in Process-Oriented Translation Training. Meta 50:2 ► pp. 359 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

1995. Catastrophe theory. In Handbook of Pragmatics, ► pp. 95 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2004. Le problème du continu/discontinu dans la sémiophysique de René Thom et l’origine du langage. Cahiers de praxématique :42 ► pp. 121 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2006. The Dimensionality of Text and Picture and the Cross-Cultural Organization of Semiotic Complexes. In Aspects of Automatic Text Analysis [Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, 209], ► pp. 421 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2007. Evolutionary pragmatics. In Handbook of Pragmatics, ► pp. 1 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2008. Semiotic Hypercycles Driving the Evolution of Language. Axiomathes 18:1 ► pp. 91 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2015. The Cultural Individuation of Human Language Capacity and the Morphogenesis of Basic Argument-Schemata. In Morphogenesis and Individuation [Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis, ], ► pp. 93 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2020. Structures, Archetypes, and Symbolic Forms. Applied Mathematics in Linguistics and Semiotics. In Structures Mères: Semantics, Mathematics, and Cognitive Science [Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, 57], ► pp. 165 ff.

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2022. The morphogenesis of religion and religious self-organization (with a focus on polytheism and Christianism). Cognitive Semiotics 15:1 ► pp. 93 ff.

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2022. Catastrophe theory. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 130 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2022. Evolutionary pragmatics. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 542 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2023. The Morphogenesis of Visual Symbolic Forms (Art, Architecture, and Urban Structures). In Morphogenesis of Symbolic Forms: Meaning in Music, Art, Religion, and Language [Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis, ], ► pp. 57 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2023. From Sensorial Capacities to Symbolic Forms (With Particular Reference to Odor and Color). In Morphogenesis of Symbolic Forms: Meaning in Music, Art, Religion, and Language [Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis, ], ► pp. 15 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2023. The Morphogenesis of Language and Morphodynamic Grammar. In Morphogenesis of Symbolic Forms: Meaning in Music, Art, Religion, and Language [Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis, ], ► pp. 141 ff.

Wildgen, Wolfgang

2023. The Morphogenesis of Symbolic Forms in Music. In Morphogenesis of Symbolic Forms: Meaning in Music, Art, Religion, and Language [Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis, ], ► pp. 25 ff.

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2024. Topological and Dynamic Morphologies in Semiotics. In The Relevance of René Thom [Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis, ], ► pp. 55 ff.

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