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73 results

Page 1 of 4

  • Niche-construction, co-evolution, and domain-specificity
  • James R. Hurford
  • Journal: Behavioral and Brain Sciences / Volume 31 / Issue 5 / October 2008
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2008, p. 526
  • Print publication: October 2008
  • View abstract

    That language is shaped to fit the human brain is close to the Chomskyan position. The target article by Christiansen & Chater (C&C) assumes an entity, “(the) language,” outside individual heads. What is the nature of this entity? Linguistic niche-construction and co-evolution of language and genes are possible, with some of what evolved being language-specific. Recent generative theory postulates much less than the old Universal Grammar (UG).

  • Prefaces
  • James R. Hurford, University of Edinburgh, Brendan Heasley, Michael B. Smith, Oakland University, Michigan
  • Book: Semantics
  • Published online: 05 June 2012
  • Print publication: 19 April 2007, pp ix-x
  • View extract

    Summary

    This new edition of the text is still aimed at the same introductory audience as the first edition (as described in the preface to the first edition below). Most units contain minor changes in the form of extra examples or brief additions to the text that I feel help make the presentation of topics clearer. A major addition of this new edition is the set of exercises and questions at the end of each unit, which I developed over the years when I used the book in an introductory semantics course at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. In many cases they parallel similar practices in the first edition of the textbook, but there are often additional exercises and study questions that go beyond this earlier material in order to encourage the student to think about the issues from a somewhat broader perspective. The frequent practices have been kept and occasionally revised or extended in the new edition. I have not provided answers (feedback) to the new end-of-unit questions in the text itself. This is to encourage students and instructors to seek answers on their own without the easy temptation of looking them up at the back of the book. Suggested answers to most of these new exercises and questions are provided in a separate online answer key for qualified instructors (see www.cambridge.org/9780521671873).

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