Protolanguage Might Have Evolved Before Ostensive Communication
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According to one currently influential line of thinking, the evolution of ostensive communication was a prerequisite for the evolution of human language. In this article, I distinguish between a strong and a weak version of this view and offer a sustained argument against the former. More specifically, the strong version of this view would have it that ostensive communication was a prerequisite not just for the evolution of fully modern language but for any language-like system of...[Show more]
dc.contributor.author | Planer, Ronald | |
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dc.date.accessioned | 2021-09-06T04:40:01Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1555-5542 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1885/247378 | |
dc.description.abstract | According to one currently influential line of thinking, the evolution of ostensive communication was a prerequisite for the evolution of human language. In this article, I distinguish between a strong and a weak version of this view and offer a sustained argument against the former. More specifically, the strong version of this view would have it that ostensive communication was a prerequisite not just for the evolution of fully modern language but for any language-like system of communication. I argue that this version is too strong: I show how some distinctive and important features of language may well have been assembled prior to the evolution of ostensive communication. Put another way, I argue that a protolanguage before ostensive communication scenario is a real possibility. I conclude by briefly arguing that such an evolutionary scenario coheres better with archaeological evidence from the early Pleistocene as well as evidence from developmental psychology pertaining to the nature of our mind reading abilities | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en_AU | |
dc.publisher | Springer Verlag | |
dc.rights | © Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research 2017 | |
dc.source | Biological Theory | |
dc.subject | Evolution of language | |
dc.subject | Imperative and indicative signals | |
dc.subject | Mind reading | |
dc.subject | Ostensive communication | |
dc.subject | Protolanguage | |
dc.subject | Signal creation | |
dc.subject | Syntax | |
dc.title | Protolanguage Might Have Evolved Before Ostensive Communication | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
local.description.notes | Imported from ARIES | |
local.identifier.citationvolume | 12 | |
dc.date.issued | 2017 | |
local.identifier.absfor | 220313 - Philosophy of Language | |
local.identifier.ariespublication | u5343215xPUB103 | |
local.publisher.url | http://www.springerlink.com/ | |
local.type.status | Published Version | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Planer, Ronald, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU | |
local.description.embargo | 2099-12-31 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.issue | 2 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage | 72 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage | 84 | |
local.identifier.doi | 10.1007/s13752-017-0262-x | |
dc.date.updated | 2020-11-23T10:59:31Z | |
local.identifier.thomsonID | BCI:BCI201700589304 | |
Collections | ANU Research Publications |
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