Human communication : origins, mechanisms and functions /

"This volume contains a collection of contributions from leading scholars who study language and communication from comparative, developmental, and biological perspectives. The goals of the volume are four-fold. They are to (1) sketch the parallels and differences between animal communication s...

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Bibliographic Details
Corporate Authors: Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology University of Minnesota); Wiley Online Library (Online service)
Group Author: Sera, Maria D. (Editor); Koenig, Melissa Ann, 1970- (Editor)
Published: John Wiley & Sons,
Publisher Address: Hoboken, New Jersey :
Publication Dates: 2021.
Literature type: eBook
Language: English
Series: Minnesota symposia on child psychology (Series)
Subjects:
Online Access: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781119684527
Summary: "This volume contains a collection of contributions from leading scholars who study language and communication from comparative, developmental, and biological perspectives. The goals of the volume are four-fold. They are to (1) sketch the parallels and differences between animal communication systems and human language, (2) advance our understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms involved in human language development; (3) clarify infants' understanding of the social or communicative functions that language serves; and (4) better understand how language supports and advances aspects of development beyond language itself. We organized the volume into two parts. Part I focuses on Origins and Part II focuses on Functions. Part I, on Phylogenetic Origins, explores the development of human language and communication from both phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives. The first three chapters focus on phylogenetic issues. The first chapter by Catherine Hobaiter (A very long look back at language development: exploring the evolutionary origins of human language) describes the communication "tool kit" that humans share with modern apes, and analyzes the shared modes of communication and the nature of the information conveyed. The second chapter by Athena Vouloumanos and Amy Yamashiro (Building a communication system in infancy) discusses how the preference of young animals to listen to the speech of other members of their own species develops, and how they use this information to recognize when information with a communicative function is being transmitted. The third chapter by Ann Senghas (Connecting language acquisition and language evolution: Clues from the emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language) offers evidence suggesting that the evolution of complex human syntax from a simple communication system can evolve over just a few generations of language users, if the users are children. Taken together, these chapters offer a fascinating picture of how human language might have evolved"--
Item Description: Description based on print version record.
Papers from the 40th Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology, held at the University of Minnesota, October 19-20, 2017; sponsored by the Institute of Child Development, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota.
Carrier Form: 1 online resource (1 volumes).
Also available in print.
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 9781119684527 (electronic book)
9781119684329
Index Number: LB1139
CLC: B844.1-532
Contents: Part 1. Phylogenetic Origins. A very long look back at language development: Exploring the evolutionary origins of human language -- Building a communication system in infancy -- Connecting language acquisition and language evolution: Clues from the emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language -- Part 2. Ontogenetic Origins. The role of prenatal experience and basic auditory mechanisms in the development of language -- Infant Speech Perception: Integration of multimodal data leads to a new hypothesis - Sensorimotor mechanisms underlie learning -- Part 3. Functions. Does vocabulary help structure the mind? -- Numerical symbols as explanations of human perceptual experience.