Author: Morris Swadesh
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351478028
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 405
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Book Description
Morris Swadesh, one of this century's foremost scientific investigators of language, dedicated much of his life to the study of the origin and evolution of language. This volume, left nearly completed at his death and edited posthumously by Joel F. Sherzer, is his last major study of this difficult subject.Swadesh discusses the simple qualities of human speech also present in animal language, and establishes distinctively human techniques of expression by comparing the common features that are found in modern and ancient languages. He treats the diversification of language not only by isolating root words in different languages, but also by dealing with sound systems, with forms of composition, and with sentence structure. In so doing, he demonstrates the evidence for the expansion of all language from a single central area. Swadesh supports his hypothesis by ""exhibits"" that conveniently present the evidence in tabular form. Further clarity is provided by the use of a suggestive practical phonetic system, intelligible to the student as well as to the professional.The book also contains an Appendix, in which the distinguished ethnographer of language, Dell Hymes, gives a valuable account of the prewar linguistic tradition within which Swadesh did some of his most important work.
Author: Nina G. Jablonski
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
Language gives human beings the gift of amazing behavioral flexibility, and yet much remains to be known about how we developed the sophisticated linguistic skills that we take for granted. In this volume, a range of distinguished scientists from disciplines as diverse as primatology, archaeology, neurobiology, and linguistics present the latest evidence on the origin, spread and diversification of language. The ability of human beings to communicate practical and symbolic information of great complexity to one another through the medium of articulate speech is one of the hallmarks of our species. But as with many other key innovations in human evolution, the beginnings of language did not leave direct traces in the fossil record. The exploration of various kinds of indirect evidence has thus proven essential. Making use of the most recent theoretical developments and technological breakthroughs, the contributors to this volume bring a new perspective to questions of language origins and diversification. Distributed for the California Academy of Sciences
Author: NINA G. JABLONSKI
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781033050903
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Author: KENRICK PAUL
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 462
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Book Description
The first comprehensive application of cladistics to the massive body of data on both living and fossil plants, this book clarifies phylogenetic patterns within and among basal groups of land plants. In its analysis of the patterns and processes underlying the origin of land plants, the book sheds light on central questions surrounding the initial assembly of terrestrial ecosystems.
Author: Terrence W. Deacon
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393343022
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 532
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Book Description
"A work of enormous breadth, likely to pleasantly surprise both general readers and experts."—New York Times Book Review This revolutionary book provides fresh answers to long-standing questions of human origins and consciousness. Drawing on his breakthrough research in comparative neuroscience, Terrence Deacon offers a wealth of insights into the significance of symbolic thinking: from the co-evolutionary exchange between language and brains over two million years of hominid evolution to the ethical repercussions that followed man's newfound access to other people's thoughts and emotions. Informing these insights is a new understanding of how Darwinian processes underlie the brain's development and function as well as its evolution. In contrast to much contemporary neuroscience that treats the brain as no more or less than a computer, Deacon provides a new clarity of vision into the mechanism of mind. It injects a renewed sense of adventure into the experience of being human.
Author: Professor Roy Harris
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134740980
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
By introducing the reader to the main issues and themes that have determined the development of the Western linguistic tradition, an evolution of linguistic thought quickly becomes apparent. Each chapter in this accessible book contains a short extract from a `landmark' text followed by a commentary which places the text in its social and intellectual context.The authors, who consider writers from Aristotle to Caxton to Saussure, have fully revised the original edition ofthis text. Complete with two new chapters on Bishop John Wilkins and Frege, a revised preface and updated bibliography, this book will be invaluable to anyone with an interest in the History of Linguistics, or the History of Western Thought.
Author: David A. Baum
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069117587X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 886
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Book Description
The essential one-volume reference to evolution The Princeton Guide to Evolution is a comprehensive, concise, and authoritative reference to the major subjects and key concepts in evolutionary biology, from genes to mass extinctions. Edited by a distinguished team of evolutionary biologists, with contributions from leading researchers, the guide contains some 100 clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics in seven major areas: phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society. Complete with more than 100 illustrations (including eight pages in color), glossaries of key terms, suggestions for further reading on each topic, and an index, this is an essential volume for undergraduate and graduate students, scientists in related fields, and anyone else with a serious interest in evolution. Explains key topics in some 100 concise and authoritative articles written by a team of leading evolutionary biologists Contains more than 100 illustrations, including eight pages in color Each article includes an outline, glossary, bibliography, and cross-references Covers phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society
Author: Edward Sapir
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language and languages
Languages : en
Pages : 280
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Book Description
Professor Sapir analyzes, for student and common reader, the elements of language. Among these are the units of language, grammatical concepts and their origins, how languages differ and resemble each other, and the history of the growth of representative languages--Cover.
Author: Nina G. Jablonski
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9781528152310
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
Excerpt from The Origin and Diversification of Language The Third Wattis Symposium in Anthropology and this volume would not have been possible without the support of many devoted individuals. Mrs. Phyllis Wattis herself deserves greatest thanks for her continued generous financial support and her inspiring enthusiasm, which seems only to increase from one symposium to another. Within the California Academy of Sciences itself, Nancy Gee of the Department of Anthropology is thanked for the work she contributed toward the organization of the symposium, but most especially for her painstaking work in typesetting this volume. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Author: Gray, Russell D.
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 5
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Book Description
