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Sverker Johansson offers us an impressive review of current theories on the origins of language, one of the most stimulating scientific debates of the nascent century. The book is clear, clever, exhaustive, and has the rare quality of being faithful to all the theories it describes. It is essential reading for all those who want to be part of the fascinating adventure of understanding the origins of humanity. This is a reference book, not only for students, but also for researchers in the field, and I will be digging frequently into this mind of knowledge.
Sverker Johansson offers us an impressive review of current theories on the origins of language, one of the most stimulating scientific debates of the nascent century. The book is clear, clever, exhaustive, and has the rare quality of being faithful to all the theories it describes. It is essential reading for all those who want to be part of the fascinating adventure of understanding the origins of humanity. This is a reference book, not only for students, but also for researchers in the field, and I will be digging frequently into this mind of knowledge.
Johansson's review of the existing theories of language evolution is excellent and provides a good introduction to the field. Even though he does not formulate a theory of his own, I find the constraints on theories of language evolution that he formulates very clear-headed and they should certainly serve as benchmarks for any researcher in the area.
Origins of Language: Constraints on Hypotheses presents a wake-up call for the discipline of linguistics to reassess its basic beliefs and strengthen its bond with sciences as opposed to the arts, the link that seemed to have been stronger throughout its history as a discipline. I recommend Johansson's work, as one of the texts in his first linguistics course, because it provides a good basis for the beginner in linguistics; it also can serve as a solid reference for the scholar.
Johansson's book – the first book-length, single-authored attempt I know of to synthesize this fascinating and rapidly growing field – makes several important contributions. First, it offers a good overview of the many relevant strands of data – from fossils, from genes, from brain imaging, from animal communication. [...] the very attempt to synthesize these diverse scientific fields is admirable and useful. The basic scientific attitude embodied in the book – survey the hypotheses, survey the data and then combine them to exclude some hypotheses – is certainly the correct way forward for the field. It is rather surprising that no one has done it before, and anyone interested in entering the field of language evolution should look to this book for an overview of some of the important debates
In total it is a valuable review - currently the most complete in its breadth and balance of any yet published - and I would consider using it in an upperdivision course.
[...] this is a brilliantly readable, amazingly succinct yet comprehensive overview of what is scientifically plausible – and utterly implausible – in terms of hypotheses about the evolution of language. It could easily be used as a textbook for a course in language evolution. [...] What we need is a way of pulling together the best from the totality of facts and good hypotheses which we already have from all the relevant disciplines. And broadly, this is what we get here.
Sverker Johansson offers us an impressive review of current theories on the origins of language, one of the most stimulating scientific debates of the nascent century. The book is clear, clever, exhaustive, and has the rare quality of being faithful to all the theories it describes. It is essential reading for all those who want to be part of the fascinating adventure of understanding the origins of humanity. This is a reference book, not only for students, but also for researchers in the field, and I will be digging frequently into this mind of knowledge.
Johansson's review of the existing theories of language evolution is excellent and provides a good introduction to the field. Even though he does not formulate a theory of his own, I find the constraints on theories of language evolution that he formulates very clear-headed and they should certainly serve as benchmarks for any researcher in the area.
Origins of Language: Constraints on Hypotheses presents a wake-up call for the discipline of linguistics to reassess its basic beliefs and strengthen its bond with sciences as opposed to the arts, the link that seemed to have been stronger throughout its history as a discipline. I recommend Johansson's work, as one of the texts in his first linguistics course, because it provides a good basis for the beginner in linguistics; it also can serve as a solid reference for the scholar.
Johansson's book – the first book-length, single-authored attempt I know of to synthesize this fascinating and rapidly growing field – makes several important contributions. First, it offers a good overview of the many relevant strands of data – from fossils, from genes, from brain imaging, from animal communication. [...] the very attempt to synthesize these diverse scientific fields is admirable and useful. The basic scientific attitude embodied in the book – survey the hypotheses, survey the data and then combine them to exclude some hypotheses – is certainly the correct way forward for the field. It is rather surprising that no one has done it before, and anyone interested in entering the field of language evolution should look to this book for an overview of some of the important debates
In total it is a valuable review - currently the most complete in its breadth and balance of any yet published - and I would consider using it in an upperdivision course.
[...] this is a brilliantly readable, amazingly succinct yet comprehensive overview of what is scientifically plausible – and utterly implausible – in terms of hypotheses about the evolution of language. It could easily be used as a textbook for a course in language evolution. [...] What we need is a way of pulling together the best from the totality of facts and good hypotheses which we already have from all the relevant disciplines. And broadly, this is what we get here.