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Martin P.J. Edwardes (2024). The Sources
of Language Grammar An Anthropological Perspective Scitsiugnil Press: London, UK. 4.1 meg file ISBN: 978-1-9999369-4-5 Copyleft
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“Fourteen years ago, I wrote The
Origins of Grammar: An anthropological perspective to investigate one
question about language origins: where do the rules governing language come
from? Language origins is itself only one aspect of a wider project to
understand the origins of human behaviour; and this, in turn, feeds into the
general investigation of what it means to be human. Anthropology is what we
call the study of what it means to be human, so the anthropological
perspective adopted in The Origins of Grammar endeavoured to identify
the role language grammar plays in the story of being human. The objective
for this book remains the same. “Since publication of The Origins of Grammar, our understanding of the role of language in human origins has changed considerably. Which means that revisiting the sources of language grammar is a task worth undertaking. Humans are still humans, and the accepted parameters of being human have shifted only fractionally; and language grammar as a cognitive capacity has not altered significantly in millennia – how humans use grammar within language seems unchanged since the beginning of recorded history (which, by definition, requires writing, so since at least 11 thousand years ago). What has changed during the last fourteen years is our knowledge of the evolution of hominins into modern humans, and this in turn has affected our understanding of how language grammar developed. While structurally based on The Origins of Grammar, the content of this book is considerably different, reflecting the changes in our knowledge.” |
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Contents |
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Prologue Language
Grammar: Becoming Human |
1 |
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Defining Language Grammar |
6 |
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The Roots of Language Grammar |
8 |
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Studying Language Grammar |
9 |
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Why This Book? |
10 |
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1 Why Is Language Grammar
Important? |
13 |
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How Important Is Cognitive
Capacity? |
15 |
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How Important Is Bipedalism? |
18 |
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How Important Are Hunting and
Culture? |
21 |
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How Important Is Cooperation? |
25 |
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How Important Are Our Genes? |
27 |
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What Is the Function of
Language Grammar? |
31 |
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2 Speculation on the
Sources of Language Grammar |
35 |
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Play as a Source of Language
Grammar |
36 |
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Making Tools as a Source of
Language Grammar |
46 |
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Fitness Signalling as a Source
of Language Grammar |
54 |
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Embodiment as a Source of
Language Grammar |
59 |
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Multimodal Signalling as a
Source of Language Grammar |
66 |
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Cognition as a Source of
Language Grammar |
69 |
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Social Construction as a
Source of Language Grammar |
72 |
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The Magnificent Seven |
76 |
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3 Generativism
and Sources of Language Grammar |
77 |
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Uncovering the Structure of
Language Grammar |
78 |
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Elaborating the Structure of
Language Grammar |
80 |
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Exceeding the Theoretical
Baggage Allowance |
83 |
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Back to Basics |
85 |
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Universal Language Grammar? |
88 |
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Generative Linguistics on the
Sources of Language Grammar |
90 |
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4 Structuralism and
Sources of Language Grammar |
97 |
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A Short Introduction to
Systemic Functional Linguistics |
98 |
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The Systemic Functional
Approach |
99 |
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Other Functionalist Grammar
Descriptions |
102 |
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Speech is Linear, So Why Not
Grammar? |
105 |
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Linear Approaches to Language
Grammar |
107 |
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Functional Linguistics on the
Sources of Language Grammar |
111 |
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5 Cognitivism and Sources
of Language Grammar |
115 |
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A Short Introduction to
Cognitive Linguistics |
116 |
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The Cognitive Approach to
Linguistics |
119 |
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The Body in Cognition and
Language |
126 |
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Is the Brain Modular? |
127 |
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The Cognitive Approach to
Grammar |
132 |
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Cognitive Linguistics on the
Sources of Language Grammar |
134 |
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6 Becoming Language Users |
137 |
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Manual Dexterity |
139 |
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Dexterity and Working Together |
142 |
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Why Human Reproduction is
Weird |
146 |
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Cooperation, Cheating, and
Countering Deception |
150 |
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The Importance of Models and
Model-making |
153 |
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7 Modelling Society and
Sharing Models |
157 |
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The Structure of Social
Modelling |
161 |
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How to Plan and Make Models |
163 |
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Modelling and Sharing the Self |
165 |
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From Selfishness to Awareness
of Self |
167 |
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From Awareness of Self to
Awareness of Selfness |
170 |
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Awareness of Selfness |
175 |
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8 Punishment, Metaphor
and Groups |
179 |
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The Value of Altruistic
Punishment |
181 |
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The Value of Metaphor |
182 |
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THE GROUP IS AN ENTITY: 1 + 1
= 1? |
186 |
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THE GROUP IS AN ENTITY:
Building Social Structures |
192 |
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THE GROUP IS AN ENTITY: Not
Just for Humans |
196 |
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9 Language Grammar: From
Sources to Complexity |
199 |
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Grammar is a Moving Target |
204 |
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Grammaticalization and the
Sources of Language Grammar |
207 |
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The Beginnings of Language
Grammar |
209 |
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Moving on from Beginnings |
212 |
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Reputation, Iterative
Hierarchy and Complexity |
214 |
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Utterance from Pre-grammar to
Complexity |
218 |
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10 Language Grammar and
Nonhumans |
221 |
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Can Animals Share Social
Modelling? |
224 |
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Can Animals Know Themselves? |
227 |
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Empathy, Theory of Mind and
False Beliefs |
230 |
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Can Animals Show Empathy? |
234 |
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How Intelligent Can Animals
Be? |
237 |
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Animals and Human Language |
239 |
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11 Language Grammar and
Young Humans |
245 |
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Children and the Sources of
Language Grammar |
248 |
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How Children Cooperate |
251 |
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How Children Acquire Selfhood |
255 |
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How Children Acquire Language
Grammar |
257 |
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12 How Language Grammar
Manages Time |
263 |
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The Importance of Time in
Human Cognition |
266 |
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Temporal Complexity in
Language Grammar |
269 |
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Building Temporal Complexity
into Discourse |
271 |
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Time, Conditionality
and Imagination |
272 |
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How Sharing Time Became
Important |
274 |
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From Complex Language 1 to
Complex Language 2 |
281 |
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How Children Become Time-aware |
288 |
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Three Time Points, Three
Persons? |
290 |
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Time, Planning, and Being
Human |
292 |
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13 The Sources of
Language Grammar |
295 |
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Signalling before Language |
296 |
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Social Modelling before
Sharing |
298 |
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Social Modelling after Sharing |
300 |
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Runaway Complexity |
302 |
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Grammar Universals in the
Toolbox, Not the Rulebook |
304 |
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The
Socialisation-Cognition-Communication Braid |
305 |
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Epilogue Language
Grammar: Being Human |
311 |
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Differences and Similarities |
313 |
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And Finally
… |
317 |
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Bibliography |
319 |
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Index |
367 |