Table of Contents

1: Alison Wray: Introduction: Conceptualizing Transition in an Evolving Field
Part I: Making Ready for Language: Necessary, But Not Sufficient
2: W. Tecumseh Fitch: Comparative Vocal Production and the Evolution of Speech: Reinterpreting the Descent of the Larynx
3: Kazuo Okanoya: Sexual Display as a Syntactic Vehicle: The Evolution of Syntax in Birdsong and Human Language through Sexual Selection
4: H. S. Terrace: Serial Expertise and the Evolution of Language
Part II: Internal Triggers to Transition: Genes, Processing, Culture, Gesture, and Technology
5: T. J. Crow: Protocadherin XY: A Candidate Gene for Cerebral Asymmetry and Language
6: Alison Wray: Dual Processing in Protolanguage: Performance Without Competence
7: Chris Knight: Language and Revolutionary Consciousness
8: Michael C. Corballis: Did Language Evolve from Manual Gestures?
9: Iain Davidson: The 'Finished Artefact Fallacy': Acheulean Handaxes and Language Origins
Part III: External Triggers to Transition: Environment, Population, and Social Context
10: Derek Bickerton: Foraging Versus Social Intelligence in the Evolution of Protolanguage
11: Bradley Tonkes and Janet Wiles: Methodological Issues in Simulating the Emergence of Language
12: L. Steels, F. Kaplan, A. McIntyre, and J. Van Looveren: Crucial Factors in the Origins of Word-Meaning
13: Sonia Ragir: Constraints on Communities with Indigenous Sign Languages: Clues to the Dynamics of Language Genesis
Part IV: The Onward Journey: Determining the Shape of Language
14: Robbins Burling: The Slow Growth of Language in Children
15: James R. Hurford: The Roles of Expression and Representation in Language Evolution
16: Morten H. Christiansen and Michelle R. Ellefson: Linguistic Adaptation Without Linguistic Constraints: The Role of Sequential Learning in Language Evolution
17: Frederick J. Newmeyer: Uniformitarian Assumptions and Language Evolution Research
18: Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva: On the Evolution of Grammatical Forms

About the Author

Alison Wray gained her BA and D.Phil. degrees from the University of York. She has worked in departments of music, linguistics, and communication, and her research focuses on three major areas: historical pronunciation for early music, formulaic language, and language evolution. She has published papers and chapters on all three areas, and her books include: The Focusing Hypothesis (1992), Projects in Linguistics (1998, with Trott and Bloomer) and
Formulaic Language and the Lexicon (2002).

Reviews

... a thought-provoking volume, with implications not just for language evolution but for how we conceptualise language acquisition, language structure and language change.
*Journal of Linguistics*