LINGUIST List 8.1577

Mon Nov 3 1997

TOC: New Journal: Evolution of Communication

Editor for this issue: Martin Jacobsen <martylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Anke de Looper - John Benjamins Publishing Co., New journal: Evolution of Communication

NEW JOURNAL

Evolution of Communication: An international multidisciplinary journal
General Editor: Sherman Wilcox Associate Editors: Barbara King, Luc
Steels

Evolution of Communication is a broadly-conceived journal covering not
only the origins of human language but also the evolutionary continuum
of communication in general. The journal therefore accomodates studies
on various species as well as comparative, theoretical, and
experimental studies. This truly multidisciplinary approach will
integrate research from a variety of disciplines, such as:
linguistics, evolutionary biology, artificial life, primatology,
ethology, neuroscience, cognitive science, biological and
developmental psychology, social and biological anthropology, and
palaeontology. Information for authors and a stylesheet are available
on the editor's website: http://www.unm.edu/~wilcox/EOC

John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Vol 1. (1997) 2 issues; ca. 300 pp. Hfl. 250,- (incl. postage/handling) 
Special rate for private subscribers available from publisher. 

CONTENTS: Evolution of Communication 1:1

ARTICLES

Luc Steels (1)
The Synthetic Modeling of Language Origins

This paper surveys work on the computational modeling of the origins
and evolution of language. The main approaches are described and some
example experiments from the domains of the evolution of
communication, phonetics, lexicon formation, and syntax are discussed.

F. Bryant Furlow (35)
The Crying Game: Do Solicitation Displays Advertise Offspring Fitness?

Evolutionary models of offspring solicitation systems have emphasized
the potential for offspring manipulation of parents and the role of
signal production costs in limiting exaggeration of need by
offspring. Another, neglected possible evolutionary function of
offspring solicitation is competition with siblings for access to
limited parental resources via condition-dependent displays of
probable offspring contributions to parental fitness. In this brief
review of the behavioral ecological literature, I report that
offspring phenotypic quality is indeed a common positive correlate of
parental investment, and that apparently condition-dependent displays
modulate differential parental investment. I argue that short-term
fluctuations in need are secondary to intrinsic offspring phenotypic
quality in determining parental investment responses to
solicitation. I conclude that need display is an incomplete
evolutionary explanation of offspring solicitation behaviors, and that
fitness advertisement is a primary function of such neonatal
behaviors. Offspring solicitation, like courtship displays and
agonistic signals, may be best understood within the framework of
competitive Zahavian signal selection. Future avenues of experimental
research are proposed.

REVIEW ARTICLES

Barbara J. King and Stuart G. Shanker (59)
The Expulsion of Primates from the Garden of Language
(On 'Human Evolution, Language and Mind'. William Noble and Iain
Davidson. Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0 521 44502
7. Hardback. xiii + 272 pp.)

Juan Carlos Gomez (101)
The Study of the Evolution of Communication as a Meeting of
Disciplines (On 'The Evolution of Communication'. Marc Hauser. MIT
Press, 1996. ISBN 0-262-08250-0. Hardback. xv + 760 pp.)

CONFERENCE REPORT (133)

Iain Davidson
The Evolution of Language: Assessing the Evidence from Nonhuman
Primates

BOOK REVIEWS (153)

Alan Walker and Pat Shipman, 'The Wisdom of the Bones: In Search of
Human Origins.' (Kathleen R. Gibson); Jerry H. Gill. 'If a Chimpanzee
Could Talk and Other Reflections on Language Acquisition' (David
f. Armstrong)

Ms Anke de Looper <delooperbenjamins.nl>
John Benjamins Publishing Company
P.O.Box 75577, 1070 AN AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands 
Tel: +31 20 6762325 / Fax: +31 20 6739773
www.benjamins.nl