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Solving the language origins puzzle: Collecting and assembling all pertinent pieces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Kathleen R. Gibson
Affiliation:
Section of Anatomical Sciences, University of Texas Dental Branch, Houston, TX 77225. kgibson@bite.db.uth.tmc.edu

Abstract

Wilkins & Wakefield fall short of solving the language origin puzzle because they underestimate the cognitive and linguistic capacities of great apes. A focus on ape capacities leads to the recognition of varied levels of cognition and language and to a gradualistic model of language emergence in which early hominid language skills exceed those of the apes but fall far short of those of modern humans or later fossil hominid groups.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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