The Genesis of Grammar: A Reconstruction
This book reconstructs what the earliest grammars might have been and shows how they could have led to the languages of modern humankind.\ Like other biological phenomena, language cannot be fully understood without reference to its evolution, whether proven or hypothesized," wrote Talmy Givón in 2002. As the languages spoken 8,000 years ago were typologically much the same as they are today and as no direct evidence exists for languages before then, evolutionary linguists are at a...
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This book reconstructs what the earliest grammars might have been and shows how they could have led to the languages of modern humankind.Like other biological phenomena, language cannot be fully understood without reference to its evolution, whether proven or hypothesized," wrote Talmy Givón in 2002. As the languages spoken 8,000 years ago were typologically much the same as they are today and as no direct evidence exists for languages before then, evolutionary linguists are at a disadvantage compared to their counterparts in biology. Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva seek to overcome this obstacle by combining grammaticalization theory, one of the main methods of historical linguistics, with work in animal communication and human evolution. The questions they address include: do the modern languages derive from one ancestral language or from more than one? What was the structure of language like when it first evolved? And how did the properties associated with modern human languages arise, in particular syntax and the recursive use of language structures? The authors proceed on the assumption that if language evolution is the result of language change then the reconstruction of the former can be explored by deploying the processes involved in the latter. Their measured arguments and crystal-clear exposition will appeal to all those interested in the evolution of language, from advanced undergraduates to linguists, cognitive scientists, human biologists, and archaeologists.
Preface xiList of abbreviations xiiiIntroduction 1Questions and approaches 1Previous work 4Assumptions 14The present approach 20On uniformitarianism 28Grammaticalization 32Methodology 33The parameters 33Extension 35Desemanticization 39Decategorialization 40Erosion 42Discussion 45Problems 46The present volume 53An outline of grammatical evolution 57Introduction 57Layers 58Nouns and verbs 59The first layer: nouns 60The second layer: verbs 71The third layer: adjectives and adverbs 82The fourth layer: demonstratives, adpositions, aspects, and negation 87The fifth layer 93The final stages 98Treating events like objects 100Evidence from signed languages 108A scenario of evolution 110Conclusions 114Some cognitive abilities of animals 121Introduction 121What linguistic abilities do animals have? 125Communicative intentions 126Concepts 128"Lexicon" 135Functional items 138Compositionality 143Argument structure 144Linear arrangement 146Coordination 148Taxonomic concepts 150Discussion 159Problems 160Language-like abilities in animals 162Grammaticalization in animals? 163Conclusion 164On pidgins and other restricted linguistic systems 166Introduction 167Kenya Pidgin Swahili (KPS) 169The rise of new functional categories 175Discussion 184Grammaticalization in other pidgins 187A pidgin window on early language? 193Other restricted systems 198An elementary linguistic system? 205Conclusion 208Clause subordination 210Introduction 211Expansion 216Integration 224Relative clauses 224The demonstrative channel 225The interrogative channel 229Complement clauses 229Introduction 230The noun channel 230The verb channel 236The demonstrative channel 240The interrogative channel 242Adverbial clauses 244Introduction 244The noun channel 245The verb channel 248The demonstrative channel 250The adverb channel 250From complementizer or relativizer to adverbial clause subordinator 251Discussion 254Conclusions 260On the rise of recursion 262What is recursion? 262A definition 264Manifestations 266Simple vs. productive recursion 268Embedding, iteration, and succession 270Treatment of recursion in linguistic description 271Are there languages without recursion? 272Discussion 273Animal cognition 276The noun phrase 279Attributive possession 280Modifying compounding 283Adjectival modification 286Conclusion 287Clause subordination 287Case studies 288The rise of a relative clause construction 288The rise of complement and adverbial clauses 291Loss of recursion 293Conclusions 294Early language 298Grammatical evolution 298Layers 298From non-language to language 311Lexicon before syntax 313Word order 315Functions of early language 318Cognition or communication? 318Motivations underlying grammaticalization 323Discussion 329Who were the creators of early language? 331Did language arise abruptly? 338Grammaticalization-a human faculty? 342Looking for answers 345Conclusions 354References 357Index 401
