The emergence of language in the human mind - AAA500173

• Title: The emergence of language in the human mind
• Guaranteed by: Department of the English Language and ELT Methodology (21-UAJD)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2023
• Semester: summer
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 5
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:0/2, C [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=8744
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil.

Annotation

Last update: Mgr. Kateřina Bělehrádková (05.02.2022)

Studies of the emergence of language focus on the evolutionary and developmental factors that affect the acquisition and auto-organization of a linguistic system. Emergent accounts of language emphasize the extent to which a complex set of communicative behaviors and forms arise from a few simple mechanisms. Thus, they essentially describe moments in time when non-linguistic systems become linguistic. Language development is divided into distinct stages, where the appearance of one property depended on another that preceded it. Identifying structures within emerging systems allows us to analyze interdependencies and contraints imposed by linguistic developments. Naturally, the study of the origin and emergence of language is a highly interdisciplinary endeavor. Recent advances in the brain and cognitive sciences spurred a surge of scientific interest in language emergence, with evidence coming from comparative psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and theoretical linguistics. This seminar will survey a cross-section of modern theories, methods and research pertaining to the emergence of language from an evolutionary perspective.

Course completion requirements

Last update: Mgr. Kateřina Bělehrádková (05.02.2022)

NOTE

There is no textbook for this course; readings and other class notes will be posted on Moodle. The reading list may be subject to change.

Literature

Last update: Mgr. Kateřina Bělehrádková (05.02.2022)

LITERATURE

Christiansen, M. H. & Chater, N. (2015). The language faculty that wasn’t: A usage-based account of natural language recursion. Frontiers in Psychology, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01182

Dunbar, R. (2004). Gossip in evolutionary perspective. Review of General Psychology, 8/2, 100-110.

Luef, E. M. (2018). Tracing the human brain’s classical language areas in extant and extinct hominids. In E. M. Luef & M. M. Marin (Eds.), The talking species: Perspectives on the evolutionary, neuronal and cultural foundations of language (pp. 29-56). Graz: Uni-Press.

Hillert, D. (2015). On the evolving biology of language. Frontiers in Psychology, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01796

Jackendoff, R. (2011). What ist he human language faculty? Two views. Language, 87/3, 586-624.

Rakoczy, H. (2017). Theory of mind. In B. Hopkins, E. Geangu, & S. Linkenauger (Eds.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Child Development (pp. 505-512). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316216491.081.

Pagel, M. (2016). Darwinian perspectives on the evolution of human languages. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24, 151-157.

Pepperberg, I. (2013). Evolution of communication and language: Insights from parrots and songbirds. In M. Tallerman & K. R. Gibson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution (pp. 109-119). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Schlenker, P., Chemla, E., Schel, A. M., Fuller, J., Gautier, J.-P., Kuhn, J., Veselinović, D., Arnold, K., Cäsar, C., Keenan, S., Lemasson, A., Ouattara, K., Ryder, R., & Zuberbühler, K. (2016). Formal monkey linguistics. Theoretical Linguistics, 42/1-2, 1-90. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/tl-2016-0001.

Siew, C. Q. S., Wulff, D. U., Beckage, N. M., & Kenett, Y. N. (2019). Cognitive network science: A review of research on cognition through the lens of network representations, processes, and dynamics. Complexity, Art. ID: 2108423. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2108423

Slater, P. (2013). Bird song and language. In M. Tallerman & K. R. Gibson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution (pp. 96-101). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Steward, C. (2019). Order in a chaotic world: Introducing the Chaos Theory. URL: https://medium.com/swlh/order-in-a-chaotic-world-introducing-the-chaos-theory-2b3884497071

Tomasello, M. (2018). How children come to understand false beliefs: A shared intentionality account. PNAS, 115/ 34, 8491-9498. 

Requirements to the exam

Last update: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil. (07.02.2022)

REQUIREMENTS

-         Oral presentation in class

-         Homework assignments

-         Final exam

Syllabus

Last update: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil. (07.02.2022)

SYLLABUS

 

Session	Topic	Required Readings
1	What is emergence? Self-organizing systems, equilibria, and entropy
2	Chaos and complexity in language development	Steward, 2019
3	Percolation theory and complex networks	Siew et al., 2019
4	Darwinian selection and the origins of language	Hillert, 2015 Pagel, 2016
5	Co-opting brain structures in language evolution	Luef, 2018
6	A theory of mind, joint attention, referentiality	Tomasello, 2018 Rakoczy, 2017
7	The syntax of bird songs	Slater, 2013 Pepperberg, 2013
8	Socio-pragmatic origins of human communication	Dunbar, 2004
9	Are primates good models for language evolution?	Gibson, 2013 Schlenker, 2016
10	Universal Grammar and the shrinking language faculty	Christiansen & Chater, 2015 Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch, 2002
11	Recursion in language and elsewhere in the mind	Jackendoff, 2011
12	Emergent categories in first language acquisition	Student presentations
13	Second language as an emergent system	Student presentations