Ashplant
Reading, Smashing, and Playing Ulysses
Bickerton, Derek. Language and Species. University Of Chicago Press, 1992.
Related topics:
Animals
Language and Linguistics
Union and Division
Link to citation page: https://www.worldcat.org/title/language-species/oclc/21440880&referer=brief_results
This book addresses the concept of language and its function in the argument for human-animal distinction. Bickerton eases the disparity between evolutionist and creationist, arguing that on either side, the language of humans has developed in remarkable ways from the Neanderthals. In the introduction, he addresses several questions regarding the nature of language and the hominid line of species. One of his primary concerns deal with the human brain's development that ultimately provided the species with a unique consciousness. While all animals communicate, Bickerton says that the language of humans functions more deeply in that it is not just basically communicative, but is also "a system of representation, a means for sorting and manipulating the plethora of information that deluges us throughout our waking life" (5). Language, at least in the way that we presently use it, thus allows humans to exercise "control over nature" (2).
Bickerton's primary aim is to explore the ways in which language makes us different from other species. He traces the continuity of the existence of language through other species' communication systems. But herein lies a paradox, as Bickerton also works to distinguish human forms of language from the ways in which other species communicate. For example, humans create syntax in which words are strung together in particular ways to convey a meaning more complex than would simply be implied by the definitions alone (he has similar sentiments about the complexity of the human brain). In other words, structure, as well as lexical content, contributes to the systematic signification power of human language.
Bickerton goes on to trace the evolution of language as a whole, analyzing the beginning of its development in neurological systems. He also examines certain behaviors (in our species and others) that are sometimes described as language, but that he argues are perhaps better regarded as "something intermediate between a prelinguistic state and true language" (6). In the last two chapters, he concentrates on the longterm consequences for a species that uses language—specifically, the attention we give to our inner and outer worlds, a tension which he calls consciousness.
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