This new four-volume collection, part of Routledge’s Critical Concepts in Linguistics series, assembles the most important scholarly writings concerning the biological evolution of language, particularly those incorporating a Darwinian view of evolution. Including excerpts from ancient sources such as the Bible, Plato, and Aristotle, along with classical sources like Condillac, Rousseau, and Herder, Language Evolution provides an overview of the intensive debate on language evolution following the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species.
It also outlines each of the major conceptions of protolanguage and examines the evolution of our human capacity for speech, as well as focusing on the modern (mostly post-1990) literature attempting to reconcile the Chomskyean approach to linguistics with a Darwinian evolutionary viewpoint. In addition, it incorporates the new insights and approaches based on computer modelling, which have played a growing role in the recent literature.
This is an important resource for those scholars interested in possessing a deeper, historically informed overview of the immense literature on this topic. The collection will also, of course, provide unified and ready access to a selection of the most important papers from the 1990s onward. It is supplemented with a full index, and includes an introduction to each volume, newly written by the editors, which places the assembled materials in their historical and intellectual context.
vOLUME i
1. H. Aarsleff, ‘An Outline of Language-Origins Theory Since the Renaissance’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1976, 280, 4–13.
2. Aristotle, ‘Voice’ [c. 350 BC], The History of Animals, Bk. IV, Pt. 9, trans. D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (Clarendon Press, 1910), pp. 109–11.
3. É. B. d. Condillac, ‘The Origin and Progress of Language’, Essai sur l’origine des connaissances humaines [1747], trans. H. Aarsleff (Scholar’s Facsimiles and Reprints, 1971), pp. 113–19.
4. J.-J. Rousseau, ‘Essay on the Origin of Language’, excerpt from On the Origin of Language, trans. John Moran and Alexander Gode (University of Chicago Press, 1966), pp. 5–16.
5. J. G. Herder, ‘Essay on the Origin of Language’ [1772], excerpt from On the Origin of Language, trans. John Moran and Alexander Gode (University of Chicago Press, 1966), pp. 87–128.
6. P. Camper, ‘Account of the Organs of Speech of the Orang Outang’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1779, 69, 139–59.
7. W. von Humboldt, ‘The Linguistics Process: Etymology and Morphology’ [1836], in Linguistic Variability and Intellectual Development (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972), pp. 69–78.
8. C. Darwin, ‘Difficulties on Theory’, On the Origin of Species, 6th edn. (John Murray, 1859), pp. 171–206.
9. C. Darwin, ‘Instinct’, On the Origin of Species, 6th edn. (John Murray, 1859), pp. 207–43.
10. C. Darwin, ‘Recapitulation and Conclusion’, On the Origin of Species, 6th edn. (John Murray, 1859), pp. 459–90.
11. C. Darwin, ‘Secondary Sexual Characters of Mammals’, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, 2nd edn. (John Murray, 1874), pp. 525–8.
12. C. Darwin, ‘Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals’, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, 2nd edn. (John Murray, 1874).
13. F. M. Müller, ‘The Theoretical Stage, and the Origin of Language’, Lectures on the Science of Language (Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green, 1861), pp. 344–94.
14. F. M. Müller, ‘Lectures on Mr Darwin’s Philosophy of Language’, Fraser’s Magazine, 1873, 7–8.
15. F. M. Müller, ‘The Science of Language’, Nature, 1870, 1, 256–9.
16. F. W. Farrar, ‘Philology and Darwinism’, Nature, 1870, 1, 527–9.
17. F. W. Farrar, ‘On Language’, Language and Languages (Longmans, Green and Co., 1891), pp. 1–47.
18. A. R. Wallace, ‘The Limits of Natural Selection as Applied to Man’, in Wallace (ed.), Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection (Macmillan, 1871), pp. 332–60.
19. A. R. Wallace, ‘Darwinism Applied to Man’ (extract), Darwinism: An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection with some of its Applications (Macmillan, 1889), pp. 461–78.
20. E. L. Thorndike, ‘The Origin of Language’, Science, 1943, 98, 1–6.
21. A. Montagu, ‘Toolmaking, Hunting and the Origin of Language’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1976, 280, 266–74.
Volume II
22. R. M. Yerkes and A. W. Yerkes, The Great Apes (Yale University Press, 1929), pp. 72–9, 161–5, 301–9, 460–6, 545–6.
23. C. Hayes, The Ape in Our House (Harper, 1951), pp. 60–71, 85–91, 108–10, 130–40, 181–9, 224–31, 239–43.
24. J. Goodall, ‘Communication’, The Chimpanzees of Gombe (Harvard University Press, 1986), pp. 114–43.
25. E. S. Savage-Rumbaugh, J. Murphy, R. A. Sevcik, K. E. Brakke, S. L. Williams, and D. M. Rumbaugh, ‘Language Comprehension in Ape and Child’, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1993, 158, 44–5, 98–103.
26. E. S. Savage-Rumbaugh, D. M. Rumbaugh, S. T. Smith, and J. Lawson, ‘Reference: The Linguistic Essential’, Science, 1980, 210, 922–5.
27. K. Zuberbühler, ‘Referential Labelling in Wild Diana Monkeys’, Animal Behaviour, 2000, 59, 917–27.
28. R. M. Seyfarth, D. L. Cheney, and T. J. Bergman, ‘Primate Social Cognition and the Origins of Language’, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2005, 9, 264–6.
29. R. M. Seyfarth and D. L. Cheney, ‘Signalers and Receivers in Animal Communication’, Annual Review of Psychology, 2003, 54, 145–73.
30. P. H. Lieberman, D. Klatt, and W. H. Wilson, ‘Vocal Tract Limitations on the Vowel Repertoires of Rhesus Monkey and Other Nonhuman Primates’, Science, 1969, 64, 1185–7.
31. P. Lieberman, ‘The Evolution of Human Speech’, The Biology and Evolution of Language (Harvard University Press, 1984), pp. 256–86.
32. P. Lieberman, ‘Conclusion: On the Nature and Evolution of the Biological Bases of Language’, The Biology and Evolution of Language (Harvard University Press, 1984), pp. 330–4.
33. B. Arensburg, L. A. Schepartz, A. M. Tillier, B. Vandermeersch, and Y. Rak, ‘A Reappraisal of the Anatomical Basis for Speech in Middle Paleolithic Hominids’, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1990, 83, 137–46.
34. A. M. MacLarnon and G. P. Hewitt, ‘The Evolution of Human Speech: The Role of Enhanced Breathing Control’, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1999, 109, 341–63.
35. W. T. Fitch, ‘The Evolution of Speech: A Comparative Review’, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2000, 4, 258–67.
36. W. T. Fitch and D. Reby, ‘The Descended Larynx is not Uniquely Human’, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2001, 268, 1669–75.
37. T. Nishimura, A. Mikami, J. Suzuki, and T. Matsuzawa, ‘Descent of the Larynx in Chimpanzee Infants’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003, 100, 6930–3.
38. R. F. Kay, M. Cartmill, and M. Balow, ‘The Hypoglossal Canal and the Origin of Human Vocal Behavior’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1998, 95, 5417–19.
39. D. DeGusta, W. H. Gilbert, and S. P. Turner, ‘Hypoglossal Canal Size and Hominid Speech’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1999, 96, 1800–4.
40. W. J. Jungers, A. A. Pokempner, R. F. Kay, and M. Cartmill, ‘Hypoglossal Canal Size in Living Hominoids and the Evolution of Human Speech’, Human Biology, 2003, 75, 473–84.
41. R. L. Holloway, ‘Human Paleontological Evidence Relevant to Language Behavior’, Human Neurobiology, 1983, 2, 105–14.
42. D. Falk, ‘Cerebral Cortices of East African Early Hominids’, Science, 1983, 221, 1072–4.
43. R. Myers, ‘Comparative Neurology of Vocalization and Speech: Proof of a Dichotomy’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1976, 280, 745–57.
44. U. Jürgens, ‘Neuronal Control of Mammalian Vocalization, With Special Reference to the Squirrel Monkey’, Naturwissenschaften, 1998, 85, 376–88.
45. T. W. Deacon, ‘The Neural Circuitry Underlying Primate Calls and Human Language’, in J. Wind, B. A. Chiarelli, B. Bichakjian, and A. Nocentini (eds.), Language Origins: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Kluwer, 1992), pp. 121–62.
46. P. F. MacNeilage and B. L. Davis, ‘On the Origin of Internal Structure of Word Forms’, Science, 2000, 288, 527–31.
47. P. F. MacNeilage, ‘The Frame/Content Theory of Evolution of Speech Production’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1998, 21, 4, 499–511.
48. U. Jürgens, ‘Speech Evolved from Vocalization not Mastication’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1998, 21, 4, 519–20.
49. R. J. Andrew, ‘Cyclicity in Speech Derived from Call Repetition Rather than from Intrinsic Cyclicity of Ingestion’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1998, 21, 4, 513–14.
50. M. Studdert-Kennedy, ‘The Particulate Origins of Language Generativity: From Syllable to Gesture’, in J. R. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy, and C. Knight (eds.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language (Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 202–21.
Volume III
51. C. F. Hockett and R. Ascher, ‘The Human Revolution’, Current Anthropology, 1964, 5, 135–47.
52. W. H. Zuidema, ‘The Evolutionary Biology of Language’, The Major Transitions in the Evolution of Language (University of Edinburgh Press, 2005), pp. 9–45.
53. R. Jackendoff, ‘Possible Stages in the Evolution of the Language Capacity’, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 1999, 3, 272–9.
54. D. Bickerton, ‘The Fossils of Language’, Language and Species (Chicago University Press, 1990), pp. 105–29.
55. T. W. Deacon, ‘Symbols Aren’t Simple’, The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain (W. W. Norton, 1997), pp. 69–101.
56. T. W. Deacon, ‘The Talking Brain’, The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain (W. W. Norton, 1997), pp. 225–53.
57. O. Jespersen, ‘The Origin of Speech’, Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin (W. W. Norton & Co., 1922), pp. 412–42.
58. F. B. Livingstone, ‘Did the Australopithecines Sing?’, Current Anthropology, 1973, 14, 25–9.
59. F. Nottebohm, ‘Vocal Tract and Brain: A Search for Evolutionary Bottlenecks’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1976, 280, 643–9.
60. B. Richman, ‘On the Evolution of Speech: Singing as the Middle Term’, Current Anthropology, 1993, 34, 721–2.
61. G. W. Hewes, ‘Primate Communication and the Gestural Origin of Language’, Current Anthropology, 1973, 14, 5–24.
62. G. Rizzolatti and M. A. Arbib, ‘Language Within Our Grasp’, Trends in Neuroscience, 1998, 21, 188–94.
63. M. A. Arbib, ‘From Monkey-like Action Recognition to Human Language: An Evolutionary Framework for Neurolinguistics’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2005, 28, 105–24, 159–67.
64. L. C. Aiello and R. I. M. Dunbar, ‘Neocortex Size, Group Size, and the Evolution of Language’, Current Anthropology, 1993, 34, 184–93.
65. R. I. M. Dunbar, ‘Coevolution of Neocortical Size, Group Size and Language in Humans’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1993, 16, 4, 681–94, 729–35.
66. M. Donald, ‘Do Grooming and Speech Really Serve Homologous Functions?’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1993, 16, 4, 700–1.
67. R. M. Seyfarth and D. L. Cheney, ‘Grooming is Not the Only Regulator of Primate Social Functions’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1993, 16, 4, 717–18.
68. T. W. Deacon, ‘Confounded Correlations, Again’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1993, 16, 4, 698–9.
69. R. L. Holloway, ‘Another Primate Brain Fiction: Brain (Cortex) Weight and Homogeneity’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1993, 16, 4, 707–8.
Volume IV
70. B. F. Skinner, ‘The Verbal; Community’, Verbal Behavior (Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1957), pp. 461–70.
71. N. Chomsky, ‘Biolinguistics and the Human Capacity’, Language and Mind (Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 173–85.
72. N. Chomsky, ‘On the Nature of Language’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1976, 280, 46–7, 57.
73. N. Chomsky, Language and Problems of Knowledge (MIT Press, 1988), pp. 166–70, 182–4.
74. N. Chomsky, Reflections on Language (Random House, 1975), pp. 58–9.
75. S. J. Gould, ‘Exaptation: A Crucial Tool for Evolutionary Psychology’, Journal of Social Issues, 1991, 47, 3, 43–65.
76. J. Hurford, ‘Nativist and Functional Explanations in Language Acquisition’, in I. M. Roca (ed.), Logical Issues in Language Acquisition (Foris Publications, 1990), pp. 85–136.
77. S. Pinker and P. Bloom, ‘Natural Language and Natural Selection’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1990, 13, 707–27.
78. F. J. Newmeyer, ‘On the Supposed "Counterfunctionality" of Universal Grammar: Some Evolutionary Implications’, in J. R. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy, and C. Knight (eds.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language (Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 305–19.
79. M. Donald, ‘Précis of Origins of the Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1993, 16, 737–48.
80. S. Kirby, ‘Spontaneous Evolution of Linguistic Structure: An Iterated Learning Model of the Emergence of Regularity and Irregularity’, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 2001, 5, 2, 102–10.
81. J. Batali, ‘Computer Simulations of the Emergence of Grammar’, in J. R. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy, and C. Knight (eds.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language (Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 405–26.
82. M. A. Nowak and D. C. Krakauer, ‘The Evolution of Language’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1999, 96, 8028–33.
83. M. Nowak, N. L. Komarova, and P. Niyogi, ‘Evolution of Universal Grammar’, Science, 2001, 291, 114–18.
84. M. Hauser, N. Chomsky, and W. T. Fitch, ‘The Language Faculty: What is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve?’, Science, 2002, 298, 1569–79.
85. S. Pinker and R. Jackendoff, ‘The Faculty of Language: What’s Special About It?’, Cognition, 2005, 95, 201–36.
86. W. T. Fitch, M. D. Hauser, and N. Chomsky, ‘The Evolution of the Language Faculty: Clarifications and Implications’, Cognition, 2005, 97, 179–210.
