A Critical Introduction to Language Evolution, 1st ed. 2019
Current Controversies and Future Prospects
Expert Briefs Series

This book provides a critical introduction to the current views and controversies regarding language evolution. It sheds new light on hot topics such as: How ancient is language? Did Neanderthals have some form of language? Did language evolve gradually and incrementally, through stages, or suddenly, in one leap, in all its complexity? Does language evolution involve natural selection or not? 

This book is essential reading for scholars and students interested in language evolution, especially those in the fields of linguistics, psychology, biology, anthropology, and neuroscience. 

Editor introduction; Helen Aristar-Dry.- 1. Introduction to Divergent Views.- Why study language evolution … or not?.- How ancient is language, and did Neanderthals have it?.- Sudden (saltationist) or gradual emergence?.- The core questions to answer: The Five Problems.- 2. Sudden (Saltationist) Approaches to Language Evolution.- A sampling of saltationist approaches.- All or nothing saltationist scenario (Berwick and Chomsky).- Saltationism with some continuity (Miyagawa).- 3. Gradualist Approaches to Language Evolution.- A sampling of gradualist approaches.- Using the linguistic framework of grammaticalization: Reconstruction of earliest vocabularies (Heine & Kuteva).- Using the linguistic framework of Minimalism: Reconstruction of earliest grammars (Progovac).- In defense of “living fossils” (Jackendoff; Bickerton; Givón; Progovac).- Cultural change or genetic evolution?.- Nurture vs. nature.- Cultural evolution and computer simulation studies.- 4. Putting it all Together: The Language-Brain-Genes Loop.- From language to the brain to the genes, and back.- Specific sexual selection scenario: Language and genes.- Genetic discoveries and experiments: Genes and the brain (via language).- Neuroscientific findings and experiments: Language and the brain (via genes).- What about Neanderthals and other species?.- Conclusions and future prospects