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Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Cognition & cognitive psychology
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The Origins of Meaning - Language in the Light of Evolution (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,706
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The Origins of Meaning - Language in the Light of Evolution (Hardcover)
Series: Studies in the Evolution of Language, 8
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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In this, the first of two ground-breaking volumes on the nature of
language in the light of the way it evolved, James Hurford looks at
how the world first came to have a meaning in the minds of animals
and how in humans this meaning eventually came to be expressed as
language. He reviews a mass of evidence to show how close some
animals, especially primates and more especially apes, are to the
brink of human language. Apes may not talk to us but they construct
rich cognitive representations of the world around them, and here,
he shows, are the evolutionary seeds of abstract thought - the
means of referring to objects, the memory of events, even elements
of the propositional thinking philosophers have hitherto reserved
for humans. What then, he asks, is the evolutionary path between
the non-speaking minds of apes and our own speaking minds? Why
don't apes communicate the richness of their thoughts to each
other? Why do humans alone have a unique disposition to reveal
their thoughts in complex detail? Professor Hurford searches a wide
range of evidence for the answers to these central questions,
including degrees of trust, the role of hormones, the ability to
read minds, and the willingness to cooperate.
Expressing himself congenially in consistently colloquial language
the author builds up a vivid picture of how mind, language, and
meaning evolved over millions of years. His book is a landmark
contribution to the understanding of linguistic and thinking
processes, and the fullest account yet published of the evolution
of language and communication.
"A wonderful read - lucid, informative, and entertaining, while at
the same time never talking down to the reader by
sacrificingargumentation for the sake of 'simplicity'. Likely to be
heralded as the major publication dealing with language evolution
to date. Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington
General
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