Books > Language & Literature > Language & linguistics > Historical & comparative linguistics
|
Buy Now
Language and Human Behavior (Paperback)
Loot Price: R874
Discovery Miles 8 740
|
|
Language and Human Behavior (Paperback)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
Donate to Against Period Poverty
Total price: R894
Discovery Miles: 8 940
|
"What this book proposes to do," writes Derek Bickerton, "is to
stand the conventional wisdom of the behavioral sciences on its
head: instead of the human species growing clever enough to invent
language, it will view that species as blundering into language
and, as a direct result of that, becoming clever." According to
Bickerton, the behavioral sciences have failed to give an adequate
account of human nature at least partly because of the conjunction
and mutual reinforcement of two widespread beliefs: that language
is simply a means of communication and that human intelligence is
the result of the rapid growth and unusual size of human brains.
Bickerton argues that each of the properties distinguishing human
intelligence and consciousness from that of other animals can be
shown to derive straightforwardly from properties of language. In
essence, language arose as a representational system, not a means
of communication or a skill, and not a product of culture but an
evolutionary adaptation. The author stresses the necessity of
viewing intelligence in evolutionary terms, seeing it not as
problem solving but as a way of maintaining homeostasis-the
preservation of those conditions most favorable to an organism, the
optimal achievable conditions for survival and well-being.
Nonhumans practice what he calls "on-line thinking" to maintain
homeostasis, but only humans can employ off-line thinking: "only
humans can assemble fragments of information to form a pattern that
they can later act upon without having to wait on that great but
unpunctual teacher, experience." The term protolanguage is used to
describe the stringing together of symbols that prehuman hominids
employed. "It did not allow them to turn today's imagination into
tomorrow's fact. But it is just this power to transform imagination
into fact that distinguishes human behavior from that of our
ancestral species, and indeed from that of all other species. It is
exactly what enables us to change our behavior, or invent vast
ranges of new behavior, practically overnight, with no concomitant
genetic changes." Language and Human Behavior should be of interest
to anyone in the behavioral and evolutionary sciences and to all
those concerned with the role of language in human behavior.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.