New Essays on the Origin of Language

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective.

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language.

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.
To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.

Introduction Jurgen Trabant * New perspectives on an old academic question 1. Biological aspects of the question Philip Lieberman * On the subcortical bases of the evolution of language Eors Szathmary * Origin of the human language faculty: the language amoeba hypothesis 2. The first language Manfred Bierwisch * The apparent paradox of language evolution: can Universal Grammar be explained by adaptive selection? Wolfgang Klein * Elementary forms of linguistic organisation Bernard Comrie * From potential to realisation: an episode in the origin of language James R Hurford * Protothought had no logical names Jean Aitchison * The birth of rules Daniel Dor and Eva Jablonka * How language changed the genes: toward an explicit account of the evolution of language 3. Beyond bio-linguistics Merritt Ruhlen * Taxonomic controversies in the twentieth century Volker Heeschen * The narration "instinct": signalling behaviour, communication, and the selective value of storytelling Henri Meschonnic * The origin of origins: A play in five acts, with a prologue im Himmel and an epilogue auf der Erde