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The origin of language as a product of the evolution of double-scope blending

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

Gilles Fauconnier  and
Mark Turner
Gilles Fauconnier
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093faucon@cogsci.ucsd.eduhttp://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~faucon/
Mark Turner
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science, Case Western University, Cleveland, OH 44106turner@case.eduhttp://markturner.org
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Abstract

Meaning construction through language requires advanced mental operations also necessary for other higher-order, specifically human behaviors. Biological evolution slowly improved conceptual mapping capacities until human beings reached the level of double-scope blending, perhaps 50 to 80 thousand years ago, at which point language, along with other higher-order human behaviors, became possible. Languages are optimized to be driven by the principles and powers of double-scope blending.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 31 , Issue 5 , October 2008 , pp. 520 - 521
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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