A key challenge in the field of human language evolution is the identification of the selective
conditions that gave rise to language's generative nature. Comparative data on nonhuman …

Syntax has been found in animal communication but only humans appear to have
generative, hierarchically structured syntax. How did syntax evolve? I discuss three theories …

Within the cognitive sciences, most researchers assume that it is the job of linguists to
investigate how language is represented, and that they do so largely by building theories …

" Introduction There are numerous neurobiological models of language, ranging from those
concerned with speech perception, white matter structure, and the function of dorsal and …

Language's expressive power is largely attributable to its compositionality: meaningful
words are combined into larger/higher-order structures with derived meaning. Despite its …

This book proposes a new two-step approach to the evolution of language, whereby syntax
first evolved as an auto-organizational process for the human conceptual apparatus (as a …

We argue that rich data gathered in experimental primatology in the last 40 years can benefit
from analytical methods used in contemporary linguistics. Focusing on the syntactic and …

Investigating in depth the mechanisms underlying human and non‐human primate
intentional communication systems (involving gestures, vocalisations, facial expressions …

In several animal species, an alarm call (eg ABC notes in the Japanese tit Parus minor) can
be immediately followed by a recruitment call (eg D notes) to yield a complex call that …

ABSTRACT A critical feature of language is that the form of words need not bear any
perceptual similarity to their function–these relationships can be 'arbitrary'. The capacity to …