Can I read Explaining Language Change : An Evolutionary Approach on EtoBox?

Explaining Language Change : An Evolutionary Approach by Croft, William. is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Explaining Language Change : An Evolutionary Approach about?

<p>Longman Linguistics Library General Editors R.H. Robins, University of London Geoffrey Horrocks, University of Cambridge David Denison, University of Manchester</p> <p>Ever since the origins of both linguistics and evolutionary biology in the 19th century, scholars have noted the similarity between biological evolution and language change. Yet until recently neither linguists nor biologists have developed a model of evolution general enough to apply across the two fields. Even in linguistics, the field is split between the historical linguists who study change in language structure, and the sociolinguists who study social variation in the speech community.</p> <p>Explaining Language Change provides the first thoroughly worked out framework for language evolution, building on the pioneering ideas of Richard Dawkins and David Hull in biology and philosophy of science. The author argues that linguistic innovations emerge from the remarkable complexity of communication in social interaction and that once innovations occur, they are propagated through the equally complex social structures of the speech communities we participate in. The book provides a framework for assessing current

Author

Croft, William.

Publisher

Longman; Pearson Education ESL

Published

2000

Language

EN

ISBN

9780582356788

Subjects

Language Learning, Literary Fiction, Science