Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T19:59:57.252Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Language first, then shared intentionality, then a beneficent spiral

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2005

Derek Bickerton*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI96822www.derekbickerton.com

Abstract

Tomasello et al. give a good account of how shared intentionality develops in children, but a much weaker one of how it might have evolved. They are unduly hasty in dismissing the emergence of language as a triggering factor. An alternative account is suggested in which language provided the spark, but thereafter language and shared intentionality coevolved.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)