Birdsong shows striking parallels with human speech. Previous comparisons between
birdsong and human vocalizations focused on syntax, phonology and phonetics. In this …

Vocal learning is the ability to modify vocal output on the basis of experience. Traditionally,
species have been classified as either displaying or lacking this ability. A recent proposal …

Objective: In this article, we reexamine the hypothesis of language retrogenesis, that is, the
assumption that language change over healthy ageing mirrors, albeit inversely, language …

Questions related to the uniqueness of language can only be addressed properly by
referring to sound knowledge of the relevant cognitive abilities of nonhuman animals. A key …

In this article, we address the tenability of Darwin's musical protolanguage, arguing that a
more compelling evolutionary scenario is one where a prosodic protolanguage is taken to …

There are generally two views of how language emerged in evolution: emergent and
gradual. The emergent view holds that language appeared relatively rapidly within the last …

Universal Grammar (UG) denotes the species-specific faculty of language, presumed to be
invariant across individuals. Over the years, it has shrunk from a full-blown set of principles …

This essay reflects on the fact that as we learn more about the biological underpinnings of
our language faculty, the dominant evolutionary narrative coming out of the linguistic …

We comment on the technical interpretation of the study of Watson et al. and caution against
their conclusion that the behavioral evidence in their experiments points to nonhuman …

11 Why Is Phonology Different? No Recursion Page 225 11 Why Is Phonology Different? No
Recursion William J. Idsardi 1 Introduction Large-scale architectural issues regarding the …