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Language evolution: Body of evidence?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2005

Chen Yu  and
Dana H. Ballard
Chen Yu*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN47405http://www.indiana.edu/~dll/
Dana H. Ballard*
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY14627http://www.cs.rochester.edu/~dana/
*
chenyu@indiana.edu
dana@cs.rochester.edu
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Abstract:

Our computational studies of infant language learning estimate the inherent difficulty of Arbib's proposal. We show that body language provides a strikingly helpful scaffold for learning language that may be necessary but not sufficient, given the absence of sophisticated language in other species. The extraordinary language abilities of Homo sapiens must have evolved from other pressures, such as sexual selection.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 148 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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