Bickerton, D. (1998). Catastrophic evolution: The case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language. In J. R. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy , & C. Knight (Eds.), Approaches to the evolution of language: Social and cognitive bases (pp. 341--358). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.  Home/Search   Document Not in Database   Summary   Related Articles   Check

....be room for more contact between ALife researchers and this community, as both groups are interested in the adaptive function and origins of language. There is some risk of the blind leading the blind, in that many of the theories proposed by evolution of language theorists such as Bickerton [12], Dunbar [22] and Deacon [19] are not specified in enough detail to support good model building. This can be contrasted with, for example, behavioural ecology, where theories of the evolution of signalling are well developed enough for a useful simulation to be constructed. It follows that a ....

Bickerton, D. (1998). Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language. In J. R. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy and C. Knight (eds.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.341-358.

....to all this. The nature of language and the origin of language might indeed help us understand human intelligence. On the origin of language, two extreme stances exist. Some assume that human language capacity is innate and at large genetically defined [Chomsky, 1980; Pinker and Bloom, 1990; Bickerton, 1998] while others believe that language emerges from the combined play of the human capacity of abstracting and learning and cultural interactions [Deacon, 1997; Steels, 1999] Steels [1997; 1998] considers language to be the product of cultural evolution. According to Steels language can be seen ....

Derek Bickerton. Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language. In James R. Hurford, Michael StuddertKennedy, and Chris Knight, editors, Approaches to the Evolution of Language, pages 341--358. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

....the structure of events with their participant agents and patients. In this view, the move to syntactic language was in large part an externalization of this pre existing system of representation. The mechanism [of syntax] was there all the time, but it was not being used for language. (Bickerton, 1998:350) Let us call such a system of mental representation protothought . It is often assumed that the structure of this protothought was something like Predicate Calculus (but possibly without quantifiers) 2 Predicate Logic, Semantics and Psychology Assuming something like a modern Predicate ....

Bickerton, Derek 1998 Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language. In Hurford, J.R., M.Studdert-Kennedy, and C.Knight (eds.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 341-358. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

....And it is in syntax that the most emphatic claims have been made for deriving modern linguistic structure from the pre existing structure of mental representations. Events, Agents, Themes and Goals . already formed part of the primate inventory of Things that there are in the world . (Bickerton, 1998:351) A creature s knowledge of events, agents, themes and goals belong to what Bickerton, and linguists more generally, call a theta analysis component . Descriptive linguists conceive of this component as an integral part of the system mapping meanings to sounds. But for Bickerton, this ....

Bickerton, Derek, 1998, "Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language". In Hurford, James R., Michael Studdert-Kennedy and Chris Knight (eds) Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 341-358.

.... Indeed, as Steedman (1996:14f) notes, the deterministic mapping via categorial rules of application, composition, and so forth from SF to LF strengthens the case for an evolutionary pathway in terms of the development of such rules of realization for pre existing conceptual structures (see e.g. Bickerton, 1998; Worden, 1998) However, the question of the origin of the LAD, as opposed to its subsequent evolution and maintenance, is not addressed further in this paper. 7 the basis of minimal environmental stimulus, providing that the environment, and consequent selection pressure, remains constant over ....

Bickerton, Derek (1998) `Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language' in Jim Hurford, Michael Studdert-Kennedy and Chris Knight (ed.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 341--358.

.... unmarked values retained in the absence of robust counter evidence (e.g. Bickerton, 1984; Hyams, 1986; Lightfoot, 1992) A variety of explanations have been offered for the emergence of a partially innate language acquisition device (LAD) with such properties based on saltation (Berwick, 1998; Bickerton, 1990, 1998) or genetic assimilation (Pinker and Bloom, 1990) But none provide a coherent detailed account of both the emergence and maintenance of a LAD in an evolving population. The account proposed here is that a minimal LAD emerged via recruitment of general purpose (Bayesian) learning mechanisms (e.g. ....

....the subsequent maintenance and refinement of a trait than to ones concerning its emergence (e.g. Ridley, 1990) However, other work suggests that the emergence of a minimal LAD might have required only minor reconfiguration of cognitive capacities available in the hominid line. Worden (1998) and Bickerton (1998) argue that social reasoning skills in primates provide the basis for a conceptual representation and reasoning capacity. In terms of the model presented here, this amounts to claiming that the categorial logic underlying a GCG s semantics was already in place. Encoding aspects of this ....

Bickerton, D. (1998) `Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language' in Hurford, J., StuddertKennedy, M., and Knight, C. (ed.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 341--358.

....1992) Thus, the LAD incorporates both a set constraints defining a possible human grammar and a set of biases (partially) ranking possible grammars by markedness. A variety of explanations have been offered for the emergence of an innate LAD with such properties based on saltation (Berwick, 1998; Bickerton, 1990, 1998) or genetic assimilation (Pinker and Bloom, 1990; Kirby, 1998) Formal models of parameter setting (e.g. Clark, 1992; Gibson and Wexler, 1994; Niyogi and Berwick, 1996; Brent, 1996) have demonstrated that development of a psychologically plausible and effective parameter setting algorithm, even ....

....and refinement of a trait than to ones concerning its emergence (e.g. Ridley, 1990) However, other work suggests that the emergence of a minimal language acquisition device might have required only minor reconfiguration of cognitive capacities available in the hominid line. Worden (1998) and Bickerton (1998) argue that social reasoning skills in primates provide the basis for a conceptual representation and reasoning capacity. In terms of the model presented here, this amounts to claiming that the categorial logic underlying generalized categorial grammars semantics was already in place. Encoding ....

Bickerton, D. (1998) `Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language' in Hurford, J., Studdert-Kennedy, M., and Knight, C. (ed.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 341--358.

.... the deterministic mapping via categorial rules of application, composition, and so forth from surface form to predicate argument structure strengthens the case for an evolutionary pathway in terms of the development of such rules of realization for pre existing conceptual structures (see e.g. Bickerton, 1998; Worden, 1998) However, the question of the origin of the LAD, as opposed to its subsequent evolution and maintenance, is not addressed further in this paper. 5 Waddington s work on genetic assimilation is a neo Darwinian refinement of an idea independently discovered by Baldwin, Lloyd Morgan ....

Bickerton, D. (1998) `Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language' in Hurford, J., Studdert-Kennedy, M., and Knight, C. (ed.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 341--358.

....As noted above, the question of how quickly fully modern languages emerged after the rise of our own species about 200,000 years ago is a central one, correctly raised by the editors. In one of their editorial introductions, they briefly discuss the most well known proposal in this area, namely Bickerton s (1990, 1995, 1998) suggestion that full human language appeared in a single step from protolanguage. As one of the most salient proposals in the field, one would have expected it to have received some fleshing out, perhaps in a chapter by Bickerton himself, or in a contribution by another author critically ....

Bickerton, Derek, 1998 "Catastrophic Evolution: the Case for a Single Step from Protolanguage to Full Human Language", In Hurford, James R., Michael Studdert-Kennedy and Chris Knight (Eds), Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive bases, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

....is heavily interwoven with discussion of closely related concepts under rthe headings of social intelligence (Worden, in press) and Machiavellian intelligence (Byrne and Whiten, 1988) See also Sperber (1994) on human metarepresentational capacity . Bickerton s phonetics to theta role link. Bickerton (1998) has proposed a single catastrophic event precipitating the emergence of the modern language capacity. This is the appearance of a connection in the brain between the (hypothetical) component that processes understanding of complex social relations between individuals (who did whatto whom) and ....

Bickerton, Derek, (1998) `Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language' in Hurford, James R., Studdert-Kennedy, Michael and Knight, Chris (eds) Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive bases, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

....1 Language origins and Darwinian thought Theories of the origin of language are necessarily speculative. Calvin (1983) suggests that the development of language involved a transfer of the skills involved in stone throwing; Knight (1998) puts the roots of language in ritual; Bickerton (1998) argues that language arose from proto language in a single catastrophic mutation. Any one of these accounts might be true, but it is difficult or impossible to gather direct evidence that would allow us to decide between them. An unkind observer might conclude that anything goes, and that one ....

Bickerton, D. (1998). Catastrophic evolution: The case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language. In Hurford, J. R., Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Knight, C. (Eds.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, pp. 341--358. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

.... unmarked values retained in the absence of robust counter evidence (e.g. Bickerton, 1984; Hyams, 1986; Lightfoot, 1992) A variety of explanations have been offered for the emergence of a partially innate language acquisition device (LAD) with such properties based on saltation (Berwick, 1998; Bickerton, 1990, 1998) or genetic assimilation (Pinker and Bloom, 1990) But none provide a coherent detailed account of both the emergence and maintenance of a LAD in an evolving population. The account proposed here is that a minimal LAD emerged via recruitment of general purpose (Bayesian) learning mechanisms (e.g. ....

....the subsequent maintenance and refinement of a trait than to ones concerning its emergence (e.g. Ridley, 1990) However, other work suggests that the emergence of a minimal LAD might have required only minor reconfiguration of cognitive capacities available in the hominid line. Worden (1998) and Bickerton (1998) argue that social reasoning skills in primates provide the basis for a conceptual representation and reasoning capacity. In terms of the model presented here, this amounts to claiming that the categorial logic underlying a GCG s semantics was already in place. Encoding aspects of this ....

Bickerton, D. (1998) `Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language' in Hurford, J., Studdert-Kennedy, M., and Knight, C. (ed.), Approaches to the Evolution of Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 341--358.

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Bickerton, D. (1998). Catastrophic evolution: The case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language. In J. R. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy , & C. Knight (Eds.), Approaches to the evolution of language: Social and cognitive bases (pp. 341--358). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

No context found.

Springer. Bickerton, D. (1998). Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language. In Hurford, J., Knight, C., and Studdert-Kennedy, M., editors, Approaches to the evolution of language, pages

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