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Selfish Sounds and Linguistic Evolution : A Darwinian Approach to Language Change by By Nikolaus Ritt

Selfish Sounds and Linguistic Evolution : A Darwinian Approach to Language Change by By Nikolaus Ritt

Selfish Sounds and Linguistic Evolution : A Darwinian Approach to Language

Selfish Sounds and Linguistic Evolution : A Darwinian Approach to Language Change by By Nikolaus Ritt

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  • Hardcover
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ISBN 10
0521826713
ISBN 13
9780521826716
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About This Item

ISBN: 9780521826716

Cambridge University Press l 02 February 2015

Hardback | 342 pages

This book takes an exciting perspective on language change, by explaining it in terms of Darwin's evolutionary theory. Looking at a number of developments in the history of sounds and words, Nikolaus Ritt shows how the constituents of language can be regarded as mental patterns, or 'memes', which copy themselves from one brain to another when communication and language acquisition take place. Memes are both stable in that they transmit faithfully from brain to brain, and active in that their success at replicating depends upon their own properties. Ritt uses this controversial approach to challenge established models of linguistic competence, in which speakers acquire, use, and shape language. In Darwinian terms, language evolution is something that happens to, rather than through, speakers, and the interests of linguistic constituents matter more than those of their human 'hosts'. This book will stimulate debate among evolutionary biologists, cognitive scientists and linguists alike.

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Bookseller
Pentz Booksellers ZA (ZA)
Bookseller's Inventory #
selfish-sounds-and-lingui
Title
Selfish Sounds and Linguistic Evolution : A Darwinian Approach to Language Change by By Nikolaus Ritt
Book Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10
0521826713
ISBN 13
9780521826716
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Place of Publication
Cambridge, Uk
This edition first published
2004

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