18 Jun
2000
18 Jun
'00
4:59 p.m.
PSYCOLOQUY CALL FOR BOOK REVIEWERS of:
"The Origins of Complex Language"
by Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy (OUP 1999)
Below is the abstract of the Precis of "The Origins of Complex
Language" by Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy (740 lines). This book has
been selected for multiple review in Psycoloquy. If you wish to
submit a formal book review please write to psyc(a)pucc.princeton.edu
indicating what expertise you would bring to bear on reviewing the
book if you were selected to review it.
Full Precis: http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/psyc-bin/newpsy?11.082
(If you have never reviewed for PSYCOLOQUY or Behavioral & Brain
Sciences before, it would be helpful if you could also append a
copy of your CV to your inquiry.) If you are selected as one of the
reviewers and do not have a copy of the book, you will be sent a
copy of the book directly by the publisher (please let us know if
you have a copy already). Reviews may also be submitted without
invitation, but all reviews will be refereed. The author will reply
to all accepted reviews.
FULL PSYCOLOQUY BOOK REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS AT:
http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/psyc.html
http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/psycoloquy/
Psycoloquy reviews are of the book, not the Precis. Length should
be about 200 lines [c. 1800 words], with a short abstract (about 50
words), an indexable title, and reviewer's full name and
institutional address, email and Home Page URL. All references that
are electronically accessible should also have URLs.
AUTHOR'S RATIONALE FOR SOLICITING MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW
Most recent investigators assume that the brain has always been the
most important part of human anatomy for the evolution of language,
and do not seriously examine other conceivable directions in which
grammatical evolution might have proceeded. In "The Origins of
Complex Language," it is suggested that certain central features of
language-as-it-is, notably the distinction between sentences and
noun phrases, are by no means inevitable outcomes of linguistic or
cognitive evolution, so that where they come from constitutes a
genuine puzzle. The solution that is proposed is that
grammar-as-it-is was, in fundamental respects, exapted from, or
tinkered out of, the neural mechanisms that arose for the control
of syllabically organized vocalization, made possible by (among
other things) the descent of the larynx. This proposal turns upside
down mainstream views about the relationship between language
development and vocal tract development, and also challenges the
logical and epistemological basis of notions closely tied to the
distinction between sentences and noun phrases, such as
'reference', 'predication' and 'assertion'. It should
therefore be
of interest to anthropologists, psychologists, cognitive
scientists, linguists and philosophers of language.
psycoloquy.00.11.082.language-origins.1.carstairs-mccarthy Wed May 24 2000
ISSN 1055-0143 (44 paragraphs, 27 references, 85 lines)
PSYCOLOQUY is sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA)
Copyright 2000 Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
THE ORIGINS OF COMPLEX LANGUAGE
[Oxford University Press 1999, ISBN 0-19-823822-3, 0-19-823821-5]
Precis of Carstairs-McCarthy on Complex Language
Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
University of Canterbury
Department of Linguistics
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch
New Zealand
a.c-mcc(a)ling.canterbury.ac.nz
ABSTRACT: Some puzzling characteristics of grammar, such as the
sentence/NP distinction and the organization of inflection classes,
may provide clues about its prehistory. When bipedalism led to
changes in the vocal tract that favoured syllabically organized
vocalization, this made possible an increase in vocabulary which in
turn rendered advantageous a reliable syntax, whose source was the
neural mechanism for controlling syllable structure. Several
features of syntax make sense as byproducts of characteristics of
the syllable (for example, grammatical 'subjects' may be byproducts
of onset margins). This scenario is consistent with evidence from
biological anthropology, ape language studies, and brain
neurophysiology.
KEYWORDS: ape, aphasia, brain development, evolution of language,
grammar, language, larynx, noun phrase, predication, principle of
contrast, reference, sentence, sign language, speech, syllable,
truth