Language Origins

The science of language evolution appeared at the end of the last century but topically belongs to language origins the domain of investigation concerned with the beginnings and diversification of language. This book documents the whole history of language origins and situate language evolution in this wide intellectual context.

Autorentext

Przemyslaw Żywiczyński is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the Department of English, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland. He is Co-founder and Head of the Center for Language Evolution Studies as well as Vice-President of the Polish Society for Human and Evolutionary Studies.

Klappentext

The science of language evolution appeared at the end of the last century but topically belongs to language origins the domain of investigation that is concerned with the beginnings and diversification of language. Language evolution as a research area contrasts with the antiquity of language origins, which can be traced back to the earliest forms of traditional reflection. Language evolution emphasises its scientific orientation, whereas throughout most of its history language origins constituted a complex mixture of mythology, philosophy of language, as well as religiously and scientifically inspired speculation. This work is the first book-long attempt to document the whole history of language origins and situate language evolution in this wide intellectual context.

Inhalt

Language origins Language evolution Evolutionism History of linguistics History of ideas History of science Philosophy of language Glottogony Glossogeny Darwinism Neo-Darwinian synthesis Biological foundations of language