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LINGUIST List 24.780

Tue Feb 12 2013

Books: Semantic Structures, Communicative Principles and the Emergence of Language: Schouwstra

Editor for this issue: Rebekah McClure <rebekahlinguistlist.org>

Date: 12-Feb-2013
From: Mariëtte Bonenkamp <lotuu.nl>
Subject: Semantic Structures, Communicative Principles and the Emergence of Language: Schouwstra
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Title: Semantic Structures, Communicative Principles and the Emergence
of Language
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series
Published: 2012
Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke - LOT
                http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Book URL: http://www.lotpublications.nl/index3.html

Author: Marieke Schouwstra
Paperback: ISBN: 9789460930966 Pages: Price: Europe EURO 20.59 Comment: only available through internet
Abstract:

How did human language become so structurally complex? This dissertation presents evidence that complex syntactic rules in modern human language emerged via a pre-syntactic stage that was governed by semantic principles. This dissertation investigates the influence of meaning in evolutionarily early language by looking at situations in which people cannot use or learn a language normally. The systems that arise in those situations are called restricted linguistic systems, and examples of such systems are the language of unsupervised adult second language learners and home sign. This dissertation relates observations from restricted linguistic systems to a novel approach taken up in the laboratory, in which participants are asked to communicate about simple events using only gesture and no speech: improvised communication. Together the two branches of evidence constitute a picture of evolutionarily early language in which semantic principles take a central position: they precede and ultimately drive syntactic rules.

Because of its interdisciplinary approach, this book targets a wide audience, and it will be relevant to linguists (and non-linguists) interested in meaning, language and evolution.

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
                            Semantics
                            Syntax

Written In: English (eng)

See this book announcement on our website:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=64375

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