{"product_id":"the-origins-of-meaning-9780199207855","title":"The Origins of Meaning","description":"In this, the first of two ground-breaking volumes on the nature of language in the light of the way it evolved, James Hurford looks at how the world first came to have a meaning in the minds of animals and how in humans this meaning eventually came to be expressed as language. He reviews a\u003cbr\u003emass of evidence to show how close some animals, especially primates and more especially apes, are to the brink of human language. Apes may not talk to us but they construct rich cognitive representations of the world around them, and here, he shows, are the evolutionary seeds of abstract thought -\u003cbr\u003ethe means of referring to objects, the memory of events, even elements of the propositional thinking philosophers have hitherto reserved for humans. What then, he asks, is the evolutionary path between the non-speaking minds of apes and our own speaking minds? Why don't apes communicate the richness\u003cbr\u003eof their thoughts to each other? Why do humans alone have a unique disposition to reveal their thoughts in complex detail? Professor Hurford searches a wide range of evidence for the answers to these central questions, including degrees of trust, the role of hormones, the ability to read minds, and\u003cbr\u003ethe willingness to cooperate. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExpressing himself congenially in consistently colloquial language the author builds up a vivid picture of how mind, language, and meaning evolved over millions of years. His book is a landmark contribution to the understanding of linguistic and thinking processes, and the fullest account yet\u003cbr\u003epublished of the evolution of language and communication. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA wonderful read - lucid, informative, and entertaining, while at the same time never talking down to the reader by sacrificing argumentation for the sake of 'simplicity'. Likely to be heralded as the major publication dealing with language evolution to date. Frederick J. Newmeyer, \u003cem\u003eUniversity of\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eWashington\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James R. Hurford\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.56lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.28h x 6.45w x 1.13d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780199207855\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJames R. Hurford \u003c\/strong\u003eis Professor of General Linguistics, University of Edinburgh. He is co-editor, with Kathleen Gibson, of OUP's \u003cem\u003eStudies in Language Evolution\u003c\/em\u003e, co-founder, with Simon Kirby, of the Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit at the University of Edinburgh, and co-founder, with Chris Knight, of the EVOLANG series of international conferences on the evolution of language. His books include \u003cem\u003eThe Linguistic Theory of Numerals\u003c\/em\u003e (CUP, 1975), \u003cem\u003eLanguage and Number: The Emergence of a Cognitive System\u003c\/em\u003e (Blackwell, 1987), and \u003cem\u003eGrammar: A Student's Guide\u003c\/em\u003e (CUP 1994).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":39932120367219,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":70.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_8e4074c2-d9cc-4303-a53b-4ce6714f2cf6.jpg?v=1647790615","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/the-origins-of-meaning-9780199207855","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}