Approaches to the evolution of language : social and cognitive bases / edited by James R. Hurford, Michael Studdert-Kennedy and Chris Knight.

Includes bibl. references. - "This volume grew out of a conference in Edinburgh in 1996 on the evolution of human language." - Contents: I, Grounding language function in social cognition. On discontinuing the continuity-discontinuity debate / J. Aitchison; The origin of language and cognition / I. Ulbaek; Mimesis and the executive seat: missing links / Merlin Donald; Ritual/speech coevolution / C. Knight; Theory of mind and the evolution of language / Robin Dunbar; Old wives' tales: the gossip hypothosis / Camilla Power; Altruism, status and the origin of relevance / J. - L. Dessalles; The evolution of language from social intelligence / R. Worden; II, The emergence of phonology. Long-call structure in apes as a possible precursor / M. Ujhelyi; Social sound-making as precursor to spoken language / John L. Locke; The particular origins of language generativity / M. Studdert-Kennedy; Evolution of the mechanisms of language output / P.F. MacNeilage; Systemic constraints and adaptive change / B. Lindblom; The development of sound systems / Klaus J. Kohler; Synonymy avoidance, phenology and the origin of syntax / A. Carstairs-McCarthy; III, The emergence of syntax. On the supposed "counterfunctionality" of universal grammar / F.J. Newmeyer; Language evolution and the minimalist program / R.C. Berwick; Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language / D. Bickerton; Fitness and the selective adaptation of language / Simon Kirby; Synthesizing the origins of language and meaning / Luc Steels; Computational simulations of the emergence of grammar / J. Batali.