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Darwinian Biolinguistics

Theory and History of a Naturalistic Philosophy of Language and Pragmatics

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Antonino Pennisi

    1. Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

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  2. Alessandra Falzone

    1. Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

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  • Adopts a unique perspective for analyzing the nature and origin of language, and the biology of language
  • Opens up a new evolutionary scenario in which structural and functional aspects of language are unified by biological constraints
  • Offers a new and radically evolutionary approach to biolinguistics

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology (PEPRPHPS, volume 12)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
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  2. Introduction

    • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
    Pages 1-4

  3. History and State of the Art

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5
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    2. Chomsky and Biolinguistics

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 7-13

    3. The Last Chomsky and the Evolutionary Perspective

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 15-29

    4. The Update of the Biolinguistic Agenda

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 31-38

    5. Another Biolinguistics History: From Aristotle to Darwin

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 39-78

  4. Towards a Darwinian Biolinguistics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-79
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    2. Comparing Two Models: CBM vs DBM

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 81-85

    3. The Nature of the Species-specificity of Human Language

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 87-98

    4. Genetic Fundamentals

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 99-121

    5. Morphological Fundamentals

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 123-141

    6. Neurocerebral Fundamentals

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 143-167

  5. Extended Performativity: From Brain Plasticity to Linguistic Pragmatics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-169
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    2. Performance

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 171-179

    3. Functional Plasticity

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 181-189

    4. Evolutionary Plasticity

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 191-210

    5. Bio-Linguistic Plasticity and Origin of Language

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 211-239

    6. The Boundaries of Biolinguistics

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 241-250

    7. Pragmatics and Biolinguistics

      • Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone
      Pages 251-269
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Keywords

About this book

This book proposes a radically evolutionary approach to biolinguistics that consists in considering human language as a form of species-specific intelligence entirely embodied in the corporeal structures of Homo sapiens. The book starts with a historical reconstruction of two opposing biolinguistic models: the Chomskian Biolinguistic Model (CBM) and the Darwinian Biolinguistic Model (DBM). The second part compares the two models and develops into a complete reconsideration of the traditional biolinguistic issues in an evolutionary perspective, highlighting their potential influence on the paradigm of biologically oriented cognitive science. The third part formulates the philosophical, evolutionary and experimental basis of an extended theory of linguistic performativity within a naturalistic perspective of pragmatics of verbal language.


The book proposes a model in which the continuity between human and non-human primates is linked to the gradual development of the articulatory and neurocerebral structures, and to a kind of prelinguistic pragmatics which characterizes the common nature of social learning. In contrast, grammatical, semantic and pragmatic skills that mark the learning of historical-natural languages are seen as a rapid acceleration of cultural evolution. The book makes clear that this acceleration will not necessarily favour the long-term adaptations for Homo sapiens. 





Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Darwinian Biolinguistics

  • Book Subtitle: Theory and History of a Naturalistic Philosophy of Language and Pragmatics

  • Authors: Antonino Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone

  • Series Title: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47688-9

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-47686-5Published: 23 December 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-83797-0Published: 15 July 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-47688-9Published: 15 December 2016

  • Series ISSN: 2214-3807

  • Series E-ISSN: 2214-3815

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 301

  • Number of Illustrations: 12 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Semantics, Philosophy of Language, Psycholinguistics

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