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Why We Talk translated by James Grieve |
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Foreword................................................................................................................. xi
Part I - The
place of language in human evolutionary history
1 Animal
and human communication................................... 3
1.1 The biological status of language................................................................. 3
1.2 Animal communication................................................................................. 5
1.3 From signals to behaviour............................................................................ 8
1.4 Language as code....................................................................................... 11
1.5 Communication of human primates........................................................... 20
1.6 Use of language by
humans....................................................................... 23
1.7 The originality of language......................................................................... 28
2 Culture,
languages, and language.................................... 30
2.1 Why are there many languages?................................................................ 30
2.2 The myth of the mother language............................................................... 34
2.3 Language and the palaeolithic revolution.................................................. 42
2.4 The equal complexity
of languages............................................................. 47
3 The
biological roots of language....................................... 51
3.1 The organs of language.............................................................................. 51
3.2 Neuronal circuitry dedicated to language.................................................. 54
3.3 Language learning in animals.................................................................... 57
3.4 Does animal communication entail syntax?............................................... 63
3.5 Language learning and universals............................................................. 66
3.6 Linguistic abilities in neonates.................................................................... 68
3.7 The deaf children of Nicaragua
3.8 Language is a
compulsory activity............................................................. 73
3.9 The faculty of language.............................................................................. 76
4 Misapprehensions
about the origins of language............. 77
4.1 That language was a necessary outcome of
evolution................................ 77
4.2 That evolution towards language was slow and
gradual........................... 80
4.3 That language was an outcome of intelligence........................................... 82
4.4 That in the beginning
was the word............................................................ 86
4.5 That language is a vestige of past evolution............................................... 88
5 Language
as an evolutionary curiosity............................ 92
5.1 Evolution's directionless advance............................................................... 92
5.2 Nature appears to jump.............................................................................. 98
5.3 The role of macromutation in the emergence of
language....................... 100
5.4 Could language be the outcome of a quite
different ability?..................... 105
5.5 Dr Pangloss's
explanation of language.................................................... 108
6 The
local optimality of language.................................... 116
6.1 Between chance and necessity.................................................................. 116
6.2 The slow and the fast
in evolutionary change........................................... 118
6.3 Macroevolution and microevolution in the
emergence of language......... 129
6.4 What's the point of communicating?......................................................... 135
Part II - The functional anatomy of speech...................................
7 Putting
sounds together................................................... 139
7.1 The articulatory gestures of language...................................................... 139
7.2 Was language gestural before it became oral?......................................... 142
7.3 The atoms of language: gestures or phonemes?....................................... 145
7.4 Phonological structuring of languages..................................................... 150
7.5 Mental structures underlying the assemblies of
sounds............................ 153
7.6 The nature of the rules of language.......................................................... 157
7.7 The biological
function of phonological ability......................................... 160
8 Protolanguage................................................................. 165
8.1 Communicating just with words............................................................... 165
8.2 A language that is not learned.................................................................. 168
8.3 Protosemantics......................................................................................... 173
8.4 Prelanguage, a language without sentences............................................. 178
8.5 The lexicon of protolanguage................................................................... 184
8.6 Protoconversations................................................................................... 190
9 The
mechanics of syntax................................................. 194
9.1 The phenomenon of syntax....................................................................... 194
9.2 The importance of relations between words............................................. 197
9.3 Some facts about
syntax............................................................................ 200
10 Syntax
and meaning....................................................... 210
10.1 From protolanguage to language............................................................. 210
10.2 Semantic recursion and syntactic recursion............................................. 214
10.3 The principle of semantic linking.............................................................. 216
10.4 The autonomy of syntactic mechanisms.................................................... 220
10.5 Another form of
syntax............................................................................. 222
10.6 The origin of syntax.................................................................................. 229
11 The
structure of meanings.............................................. 232
11.1 Concepts, images, and
definitions............................................................ 233
11.2 Thematic segmentation............................................................................. 238
11.3 Double meanings...................................................................................... 246
12 The
emergence of meaning............................................. 251
12.1 The dissociation of the two forms of meaning........................................... 251
12.2 A functional role for
thematic segmentation............................................. 256
12.3 The emergence of human meaning........................................................... 262
Part III - The ethology of language.................................................
13 Conversation
behaviour.................................................. 268
13.1 An apparently unimportant behaviour...................................................... 268
13.2 Some attempts to
explain speech events.................................................... 271
14 Language
as information................................................ 281
14.1 The constraint of
relevance in conversation............................................. 281
14.2 Relevance in the informative mode........................................................... 283
14.3 Creatures responsive to information......................................................... 289
14.4 The biological grounding of the informative
mode................................... 291
14.5 Instinctive sharing of information............................................................. 292
15 The
birth of argumentation............................................ 294
15.1 Relevance in the argumentative mode...................................................... 294
15.2 The idea of cognitive conflict.................................................................... 299
15.3 The recursive nature
of argumentation..................................................... 301
15.4 The proximal function of language........................................................... 307
15.5 The origin of conversational modes.......................................................... 312
16 Language
as an evolutionary paradox.......................... 315
16.1 The theory of social bonding.................................................................... 315
16.2 The altruistic
character of language......................................................... 318
16.3 Language and cooperation....................................................................... 321
16.4 Language and cheating............................................................................ 324
16.5 The cost of communication....................................................................... 328
16.6 Three stages in the evolution of language................................................. 332
17 The
political origins of language.................................... 336
17.1 How speakers benefit
by being relevant................................................... 336
17.2 Prestige theory.......................................................................................... 341
17.3 The political role of language in hominids............................................... 344
17.4 Language as showing off.......................................................................... 351
17.5 Homo loquens or Homo politicus............................................................. 355
17.6 The other functions of language............................................................... 357
18 Epilogue........................................................................... 360
18.1 A genesis in three stages........................................................................... 360
18.2 A new view of language............................................................................ 362
18.3 Future perspectives................................................................................... 364
References ................................................................................................... 367
Index
