Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T04:06:17.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pros and cons of blurring gesture-language lines: An evolutionary linguistic perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2017

Matthew L. Hall
Matthew L. Hall*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The target article's emphasis on distinguishing sign from gesture may resolve one important objection to gesture-first theories of language evolution. However, this approach risks undervaluing the gradual progression from nonlanguage to language over hominin evolution, and in emerging sign systems today. I call for less emphasis on drawing boundaries and more emphasis on understanding the processes of change.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e57
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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.)

References

Arbib, M. A. (2005) From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28(02):105–24.Google Scholar
Corballis, M. C. (2003) From hand to mouth: The origins of language. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
de Condillac, E. B. (1798) Essai sur l'origine des conaissances humaines. Ch. Houel.Google Scholar
De Queiroz, K. (2007) Species concepts and species delimitation. Systematic Biology 56(6):879–86.Google Scholar
Hewes, G. W. (1973) Primate communication and the gestural origin of language. Current Anthropology 12(1–2):5–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irwin, D. E., Irwin, J. H. & Price, T. D. (2001) Ring species as bridges between microevolution and speciation. Genetica 112(1):223–43.Google Scholar
Jastrow, J. (1886) The evolution of language. Science 555–57.Google Scholar
McNeill, D., Duncan, S. D., Cole, J., Gallagher, S. & Bertenthal, B. (2008) Growth points from the very beginning. Interaction Studies 9(1):117–32.Google Scholar
Sandler, W. (submitted) What comes first in language emergence? In: Dependencies in language: On the causal ontology of linguistic systems, ed. Nick, E.. Language Science Press, Studies in Diversity Linguistics Series.Google Scholar