Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T18:22:07.851Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What proper names, and their absence, do not demonstrate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2004

Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand andrew.carstairs-mccarthy@canterbury.ac.nz http://www.ling.canterbury.ac.nz/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Hurford claims that empty variables antedated proper names in linguistic (not merely logical) predicate-argument structure, and this had an effect on visual perception. But his evidence, drawn from proper names and the supposed inability of nonhumans to recognise individual conspecifics, is weak. So visual perception seems less relevant to the evolution of grammar than Hurford thinks.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , June 2003 , pp. 288 - 289
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)