Book Description
Human language is a weird communication system: it has more in common with birdsong than with the calls of other primates. Jean Aitchison explores the origins of human language and how it has evolved. She likens the search to a vast prehistoric jigsaw puzzle, in which numerous fragments of evidence must be assembled. Such evidence is pieced together from a mixture of linguistic and nonlinguistic sources such as evolution theory, archaeology, psychology, and anthropology. This is an accessible and wide-ranging introduction to the origins and evolution of human language.
Customer Reviews:
these seeds bore fruit.......2005-05-20
Aitchison has written another page turner. If this book doesn't keep you up until 3am desperate to finish, nothing will. It is divided into four sections: puzzles, origin, evolution, and diffusion. Puzzles deals with the theories as to how language began and developed. What was it originally for? and touches a little on the area of psycholinguistics. The second section deals with the issue of where it began on earth and how it spread out. The issues of the first chapter are expanded on and answers provided. The third section details the evolution of language based on what we currently know about language creation among the higher apes and among indigenous peoples who are exposed to foreign languages (pidgins, creoles). The last section deals with the diffusion we know today and with the idea of a universal grammar that would unite all human language under certain principles.
As always Aitchison has managed to present a lot of information succinctly and without clouding the issues. A good introduction to the subject.
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Self-Organization in the Evolution of Speech (Studies in the Evolution of Language)
Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0199289158 |
Book Description
Speech is the principal supporting medium of language. In this book Pierre-Yves Oudeyer considers how spoken language first emerged. He presents an original and integrated view of the interactions between self-organization and natural selection, reformulates questions about the origins of speech, and puts forward what at first sight appears to be a startling proposal - that speech can be spontaneously generated by the coupling of evolutionarily simple neural structures connecting perception and production. He explores this hypothesis by constructing a computational system to model the effects of linking auditory and vocal motor neural nets. He shows that a population of agents which used holistic and unarticulated vocalizations at the outset are inexorably led to a state in which their vocalizations have become discrete, combinatorial, and categorized in the same way by all group members. Furthermore, the simple syntactic rules that have emerged to regulate the combinations of sounds exhibit the fundamental properties of modern human speech systems. This original and fascinating account will interest all those interested in the evolution of speech.
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Communicating Meaning: The Evolution and Development of Language
Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 080582118X |
Book Description
Dealing specifically with the origins and development of human language, this book is based on a selection of materials from a recent international conference held at the Center of Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld in Germany. The significance of the volume is that it testifies to paradigmatic changes currently in progress. The changes are from the typical emphasis on the syntactic properties of language and cognition to an analysis of biological and cultural factors which make these formal properties possible.
The chapters provide in-depth coverage of such topics as new theoretical foundations for cognitive research, phylogenetic prerequisites and ontogenesis of language, and environmental and cultural forces of development. Some of the arguments and lines of research are relatively well-known; others deal with completely new interdisciplinary approaches. As a result, some of the authors' conclusions are in part, rather counterintuitive, such as the hypothesis that language as a system of formal symbolic transformations may be in fact a very late phenomenon located in the sphere of socio-cultural and not biological development. While highly debatable, this and other hypotheses of the book may well define research questions for the future.
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- Great Philosophy Demands to be Read!
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Evolution and Consciousness: The Role of Speech in the Origin and Development of Human Nature
Leslie Dewart
Manufacturer: University of Toronto Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0802026907 |
Customer Reviews:
Great Philosophy Demands to be Read!.......2000-05-08
This book is most certainly not a textbook and I very much doubt any undergraduate, no matter how advanced, could manage its depth & relative complexity. *Evolution and Consciousness* was written before the consciousness studies boom of the 90s (which continues in this decade) but it was a mistake for it to languish so ignored. Much of the confusion of more recent writings on consciousness could have been avoided if the lessons of this book had been given a wider reading. In my view, such wide reading never took place because of bad marketing and because, like all great philosophy, it is a damned demanding tome. This is a work of high philosophy indeed by one of our major intellects who sees clearly and unsparingly and truthfully. Leslie Dewart writes with such inexorable logic that I defy anyone to read this book without prejudgment (as much as possible) and find a way a to reasonably disagree with his primary theses. He demonstrates that what we mean by the term "consciousness" is what we know from our own experience to be consciousness. Dewart makes the case that such conscious experience is very, very different from experience in itself--without the quality of consciousness--undergone by infrahuman entities. Only with the assertion of ideas in actual speech is the door opened to what will become the discovery/creation of the self. Only then is conscious intentionality born; only then is memory consciously accessible and rearrangeable into imagination; only then is conscious cognition--inner speech--born. Speech and consciousness turn out to be two faces of the same entity. This is a powerful thesis written in exacting but beautiful prose. Anyone seriously interested in the origins and evolution of consciousness owes it to himself to give Dewart a fair reading.
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The Origin of Speech (Studies in the Evolution of Language)
Peter MacNeilage
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 019923650X |
Book Description
This book explores the origin and evolution of speech. The human speech system is in a league of its own in the animal kingdom and its possession dwarfs most other evolutionary achievements. During every second of speech we unconsciously use about 225 distinct muscle actions. To investigate the evolutionary origins of this prodigious ability, Peter MacNeilage draws on work in linguistics, cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and animal behaviour. He puts forward a neo-Darwinian account of speech as a process of descent in which ancestral vocal capabilities became modified in response to natural selection pressures for more efficient communication. His proposals include the crucial observation that present-day infants learning to produce speech reveal constraints that were acting on our ancestors as they invented new words long ago. This important and original investigation integrates the latest research on modern speech capabilities, their acquisition, and their neurobiology, including the issues surrounding the cerebral hemispheric specialization for speech. It will interest a wide range of readers in cognitive, neuro-, and evolutionary science, as well as all those seeking to understand the nature and evolution of speech and human communication.
Book Description
Long hailed as the best guide to enjoying the state's 320 miles of coastline, Glenn Morris's North Carolina Beaches will help you find just the right spot for a long vacation or a one-day getaway. In this completely revised third edition, Morris takes a fresh and timely look at North Carolina's ever-changing coastal landscape, with its national seashores, state parks, public beaches, wildlife refuges, and historic sites as well as the beach communities where people live, work, and play. In a beach-by-beach tour, Morris details attractions and activities and provides phone numbers, addresses, and websites to help with your trip planning. Maps show the best places to park and what facilities--campgrounds, showers, restrooms, and more--to expect. Short features on topics from bird life to tidal forces inform and entertain. This book should be the first thing beachgoers pack for a visit to our coast.
Customer Reviews:
Be In The Know About N. Carolina Beaches.......2005-07-13
Don't look here for hotel or restaurant info. This is a beach book, so check in here by county to see the well-known beaches and those that will surprise you. The author selected Hammocks Beach State Park as the best of the lesser known beaches. He suggests the best beaches for first time visitors, the best for sports oriented vacations, and the best for visiting in the off-season.
The information is detailed, giving the things you need to know for your vacation. Want a boat ramp, or to see a lighthouse? This books tells you where to go. (The Associated Press reviewed this book favorably.)
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Beaches and Dunes of Developed Coasts
Karl F. Nordstrom
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0521545765 |
Book Description
This volume discusses the role of humans in transforming the coastal landscape. The book details the many ways beaches and dunes are eliminated, altered and replaced and the differences between natural landforms and the human artefacts that replace them. Emphasis is placed on the importance of retaining naturally functioning beaches and dunes in ways that achieve natural values while accommodating development and use. The issues dealt with in this book will be of interest to practising coastal engineers and research scientists, as well as to planners and managers of coastal resources at all levels of government. It will be of particular value to investigators planning for the future of coastal development under accelerated sea level rise. The book will also be useful as a reference text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in geography, geology, ecology and other disciplines dealing with the interaction between science, technology and society.
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- Excellent coverage of an amazing scenic resource.
- Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes is spectacular!
- Not Just Your Average Striking Coffee Table Book
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Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1886947163 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent coverage of an amazing scenic resource........2003-08-20
This book is superb, and you will love it. Done in coffee-table book style, the photography is spectacularly colorful, and accurate.
The careful, caring text is evocative of many days I have spent wandering these lonely, yet intimate, wild regions of our Great Lakes. Accurate to perfection in geological terms, the text further compliments the photography by elaborating on such things as rare plants and animals, unique weather, and human history of these places.
This beautiful book , finally, serves as an enduring reminder that these dunes are fragile. They need our continued stewardship, now and in the future.
If you have seen these dunes, read this book before you do so again. If not, this book will make you want to go climbing sand hills for sure. Either way, you will be handsomely rewarded.
Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes is spectacular!.......2000-09-07
If you're looking for a spectacular coffee table book that's also a great read, this is it!
C.J. and Edna Elfont - a husband-wife team of amazing talent - have combined their uniquely complementary skills to create a truly unique creation in Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes. What makes this book special is that it's a spirit-inspiring BLEND of the photographic art with the literary art. C.J. is the photographer; Edna is the writer.
The book's 144 pages contains a breath-taking photo on nearly every page. And these aren't your usual postcard pictures of sunrises and sunsets. They're truly art. Each one grabs your attention and dazzles your imagination, and makes you wonder "How in the world did they see that ... and capture it on film?"
The photography alone makes this an awesome piece. But the addition of the poetry and prose elevates it to the sublime. Amazingly, the prose explains the geo-scientific origins of the sand dunes through the eye of the artist. ("The masses of moving iced filled once green valleys, seeking the paths of least resistance. As the glaciers moved, they scraped and scoured the earth, trapping rocks, soil and anything else in their path.")
But what ultimately takes this book into a realm of its own is the poetry. I loved it. Appearing here and there are beautiful five-line poems (known as cinquain poetry). Each one pertains to an adjacent photo. I found that first I gazed at the photo, marveling at its beauty, then read the poem next to it, and, finally, went back to the photo to see it in a whole new light and appreciation. This book isn't just photos combined with prose and poems, it is - believe it or not - artistic SYNERGY!
In short, this book is a unique, awe-inspiring blending of photographic and literary art that depicts and explains an aspect of our natural, environmental heritage in a way never before done. You won't be disappointed.
Not Just Your Average Striking Coffee Table Book.......2000-07-28
It is that. The photography by CJ Elfont is technically superior, vivid and dramatic, ranging in subject from the grand vistas of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park to the intimate closeup of a Pink Lady's Slipper. The photos give a sense of the distinctness of each of the dunes and their environments all along the western coast of Michigan.
But it is more than a visually stunning book; it is also very informative. Edna Elfont's text takes the reader through the geologic history of the formation of the dunes, the forces that constantly shift the sands, and their flora and fauna. My favorite section is "Then There Was Sand," a wonderful essay on the uniqueness of the Great Lakes granite sand, and its qualities: "Unlike the qypsum sand of White Sands, New Mexico or the calcite sand in Bermuda, the sand of the Great Lakes coastal dunes slips through one's fingers like granulated silk." p. 37
It is clear that this couple has a deep love for the dunes and the nicely matched skills to articulate them verbally and visually.
Average customer rating:
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Coastal Dunes: Ecology and Conservation (Ecological Studies)
M. Luisa Ed. Martínez
Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag
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Stable Isotope Ecology
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Model Selection and Multi-Model Inference
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Linking Restoration and Ecological Succession (Springer Series on Environmental Management)
ASIN: 3540408290 |
Book Description
Coastal dunes occur in almost every latitude - from tropical to polar - and have been substantially altered by human activities. Many are already severely and irreversibly degraded. Although these ecosystems have been studied for a long time (as early as 1835), there has been a strong emphasis on the mid-latitude dune systems and a lack of attention given to the tropics where, unfortunately, much of the modern exploitation and coastal development for tourism is occurring.
This book brings together coastal dune specialists from tropical and temperate latitudes, which together cover a wide set of topics, including: geomorphology, community dynamics, ecophysiology, biotic interactions and environmental problems and conservation. A major product of this book is a set of recommendations for future research, identifying relevant topics where detailed knowledge is still lacking. It also identifies management tools that will promote and maintain the rich diversity of the dune environments in the context of continuing coastal development.
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A Guide to Ocean Dune Plants Common to North Carolina (Published for the University of North Carolina)
Elizabeth Jean Wilson Kraus
Manufacturer: University of North Carolina Press
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The Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast: Barrier Islands, Coastal Waters, and Wetlands
ASIN: 0807842125 |
Product Description
This manual will help individuals, communities, states, & others create sustainable, disaster-resistant communities. Describes the best practices in hazard identification, planning, siting, design, & construction that can be used in coastal residential construction. Coastal areas offer significant natural resources & continue to draw an increasing population for recreation, working, & living. These areas can also pose significant natural hazards from winds, flooding, earthquakes, & tsunamis. This manual describes the best practices in residential construction in coastal areas that can be used to help create sustainable & livable coastal communities. Illustrated Chapters of Vol. II: determining site-specific loads; designing the building; constructing the building; & maintaining the building. Appendices in Vol. III includes: glossary, state coastal zone mgmt. agencies, dune walkover guidance, swimming pool design guidance, material durability in coastal environments, & more. Detailed illustrations.
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Plants of the Oregon Coastal Dunes
Alfred M. Wiedemann ,
LA Rea J. Dennis , and
Frank H. Smith
Manufacturer: Oregon State University Press
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ASIN: 0870714570 |
Books:
- The Shape of the Journey: Collected Poems
- The Way Things Are: The De Rerum Natura
- Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior
- Tundra (Biomes of the Earth)
- Understanding Health Policy
- Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic
- Wave-Swept Shore: The Rigors of Life on a Rocky Coast
- World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation
- Yohji Yamamoto: Talking to Myself
- 101 Signs of Design: Timeless Truths from Genesis (101 Signs of Design)
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