Routes to Child Language: Evolutionary and Developmental Precursors

by Joanna Blake

Overview

This book provides a detailed comparison of nonhuman primates and human infants with regard to key abilities that provide the foundation for language. It makes the case for phylogenetic continuity across species and ontogenetic continuity from infancy to childhood. Examined here are behaviors fundamental to language acquisition, such as vocalizations, mapping of meaning onto sound, use of gestures to communicate and to symbolize, tool use, object concept, and memory. The author provides evidence linking these abilities with language acquisition. Similarities and differences across species in these precursors are analyzed and how these may have influenced the evolution of language. Hypotheses about the origins of language are described.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521033978
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/15/2007
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Prelinguistic vocalizations; 2. Sound-meaning correspondences; 3. Communicative gestures; 4. Symbolic gestures and symbolic play; 5. Tool use and object concept; 6. Representation in human infants; 7. Memory in nonhuman primates and young children; 8. Origins of language; 9. Recapitulation; References; Index.

What People are Saying About This

Sherman Wilcox

'Routes to Child Language: Evolutionary and Developmental Precursors is a stunning achievement which surely represents a new paradigm in language acquisition studies...
—(Sherman Wilcox, University of New Mexico)

Editorial Reviews

"Routes to Child Language: Evolutionary and Developmental Precursors is a stunning achievement which surely represents a new paradigm in language acquisition studies. Demonstrating a remarkable breadth and depth of scope, Joanna Blake weaves a unique tapestry from research of nonhuman primate communication, spoken language development, gesture, symbolic play, object concept, tool use, and the study of memory. As we continue to explore the perennial questions of how language began and how children develop language, it will be richly multidisciplinary studies such as Blake's that will contribute the most to our understanding of the complex achievement that is human language." Sherman Wilcox, University of New Mexico

From the Publisher