登入
選單
返回
Google圖書搜尋
The Gestural Origin of Language
David F. Armstrong
Sherman E. Wilcox
出版
Oxford University Press
, 2007-04-19
主題
Psychology / Social Psychology
Psychology / Developmental / Child
ISBN
0198036914
9780198036913
URL
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=kpJHXUYkecsC&hl=&source=gbs_api
EBook
SAMPLE
註釋
In The Gestural Origin of Language, Sherman Wilcox and David Armstrong use evidence from and about sign languages to explore the origins of language as we know it today. According to their model, it is sign, not spoken languages, that is the original mode of human communication. The authors demonstrate that modern language is derived from practical actions and gestures that were increasingly recognized as having the potential to represent, and hence to communicate. In other words, the fundamental ability that allows us to use language is our ability to use pictures or icons, rather than linguistic symbols. Evidence from the human fossil record supports the authors' claim by showing that we were anatomically able to produce gestures and signs before we were able to speak fluently. Although speech evolved later as a secondary linguistic communication device that eventually replaced sign language as the primary mode of communication, speech has never entirely replaced signs and gestures. As the first comprehensive attempt to trace the origin of grammar to gesture, this volume will be an invaluable resource for students and professionals in psychology, linguistics, and philosophy.