Language-Origins: PSYC Call for Multiple Book Reviewers

[Stevan Harnad]

            PSYCOLOQUY CALL FOR BOOK REVIEWERS of:

            "The Origins of Complex Language" 
            by Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy (OUP 1999)

    Below is the abstract of the Precis of "The Origins of Complex
    Language" by Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy (740 lines). This book has
    been selected for multiple review in Psycoloquy. If you wish to
    submit a formal book review please write to psyc at pucc.princeton.edu
    indicating what expertise you would bring to bear on reviewing the
    book if you were selected to review it.

    Full Precis: http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/psyc-bin/newpsy?11.082

    (If you have never reviewed for PSYCOLOQUY or Behavioral & Brain
    Sciences before, it would be helpful if you could also append a
    copy of your CV to your inquiry.) If you are selected as one of the
    reviewers and do not have a copy of the book, you will be sent a
    copy of the book directly by the publisher (please let us know if
    you have a copy already). Reviews may also be submitted without
    invitation, but all reviews will be refereed. The author will reply
    to all accepted reviews.

    FULL PSYCOLOQUY BOOK REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS AT:

    http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/psyc.html
    http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/psycoloquy/

    Psycoloquy reviews are of the book, not the Precis. Length should
    be about 200 lines [c. 1800 words], with a short abstract (about 50
    words), an indexable title, and reviewer's full name and
    institutional address, email and Home Page URL. All references that
    are electronically accessible should also have URLs.

    AUTHOR'S RATIONALE FOR SOLICITING MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW

    Most recent investigators assume that the brain has always been the
    most important part of human anatomy for the evolution of language,
    and do not seriously examine other conceivable directions in which
    grammatical evolution might have proceeded. In "The Origins of
    Complex Language," it is suggested that certain central features of
    language-as-it-is, notably the distinction between sentences and
    noun phrases, are by no means inevitable outcomes of linguistic or
    cognitive evolution, so that where they come from constitutes a
    genuine puzzle. The solution that is proposed is that
    grammar-as-it-is was, in fundamental respects, exapted from, or
    tinkered out of, the neural mechanisms that arose for the control
    of syllabically organized vocalization, made possible by (among
    other things) the descent of the larynx. This proposal turns upside
    down mainstream views about the relationship between language
    development and vocal tract development, and also challenges the
    logical and epistemological basis of notions closely tied to the
    distinction between sentences and noun phrases, such as
    'reference', 'predication' and 'assertion'. It should therefore be
    of interest to anthropologists, psychologists, cognitive
    scientists, linguists and philosophers of language.

psycoloquy.00.11.082.language-origins.1.carstairs-mccarthy Wed May 24 2000
ISSN 1055-0143                    (44 paragraphs, 27 references, 85 lines)
PSYCOLOQUY  is sponsored by  the American Psychological Association  (APA)
                Copyright 2000 Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy

                THE ORIGINS OF COMPLEX LANGUAGE
  [Oxford University Press 1999, ISBN 0-19-823822-3, 0-19-823821-5]
                Precis of Carstairs-McCarthy on Complex Language

                Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
                University of Canterbury
                Department of Linguistics
                Private Bag 4800
                Christchurch
                New Zealand
                a.c-mcc at ling.canterbury.ac.nz

    ABSTRACT: Some puzzling characteristics of grammar, such as the
    sentence/NP distinction and the organization of inflection classes,
    may provide clues about its prehistory. When bipedalism led to
    changes in the vocal tract that favoured  syllabically organized
    vocalization, this made possible an increase in vocabulary which in
    turn rendered advantageous a reliable syntax, whose source was the
    neural mechanism for controlling syllable structure. Several
    features of syntax make sense as byproducts of characteristics of
    the syllable (for example, grammatical 'subjects' may be byproducts
    of onset margins). This scenario is consistent with evidence from
    biological anthropology, ape language studies, and brain
    neurophysiology.

    KEYWORDS: ape, aphasia, brain development, evolution of language,
    grammar, language, larynx, noun phrase, predication, principle of
    contrast, reference, sentence, sign language, speech, syllable,
    truth