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An evolutionary approach to sign language emergence: From state to process

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2017

Yasamin Motamedi ,
Marieke Schouwstra  and
Simon Kirby
Yasamin Motamedi
Affiliation:
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Centre for Language Evolution, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9AD, Scotland, United Kingdom. y.m.motamedi-mousavi@sms.ed.ac.ukmarieke.schouwstra@ed.ac.uksimon@ling.ed.ac.uk
Marieke Schouwstra
Affiliation:
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Centre for Language Evolution, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9AD, Scotland, United Kingdom. y.m.motamedi-mousavi@sms.ed.ac.ukmarieke.schouwstra@ed.ac.uksimon@ling.ed.ac.uk
Simon Kirby
Affiliation:
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Centre for Language Evolution, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9AD, Scotland, United Kingdom. y.m.motamedi-mousavi@sms.ed.ac.ukmarieke.schouwstra@ed.ac.uksimon@ling.ed.ac.uk
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Abstract

Understanding the relationship between gesture, sign, and speech offers a valuable tool for investigating how language emerges from a nonlinguistic state. We propose that the focus on linguistic status is problematic, and a shift to focus on the processes that shape these systems serves to explain the relationship between them and contributes to the central question of how language evolves.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e65
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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References

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