Show simple item record

Files in this item

Thumbnail

Item metadata

dc.contributor.authorTownsend, Simon W.
dc.contributor.authorEngesser, Sabrina
dc.contributor.authorStoll, Sabine
dc.contributor.authorZuberbühler, Klaus
dc.contributor.authorBickel, Balthasar
dc.date.accessioned2018-08-16T10:30:05Z
dc.date.available2018-08-16T10:30:05Z
dc.date.issued2018-08-15
dc.identifier.citationTownsend , S W , Engesser , S , Stoll , S , Zuberbühler , K & Bickel , B 2018 , ' Compositionality in animals and humans ' , PLoS One , vol. 16 , no. 8 , e2006425 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2006425en
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 255125567
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: cebad7f7-4e2d-4ff5-b4b5-ca21a2699472
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 85053262579
dc.identifier.otherWOS: 000443383300033
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0001-8378-088X/work/64360710
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/15829
dc.descriptionFunding: University of Zurich Research Priority Program (grant number URPP, Evolution in Action; URPP U-702-06). Received by SWT and BB. Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number SWT: PP003_163860; SE: PP003_163860; P1ZHP3_151648; KZ grant: 31003A_166458). Received by SWT, SE and KZ. European Research Council under the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme (grant number FP7/2007-2013/ ERC grant agreement no (615988)). Received by SS.en
dc.description.abstractA key step in understanding the evolution of human language involves unravelling the origins of language’s syntactic structure. One approach seeks to reduce the core of syntax in humans to a single principle of recursive combination, merge, for which there is no evidence in other species. We argue for an alternative approach. We review evidence that beneath the staggering complexity of human syntax, there is an extensive layer of nonproductive, nonhierarchical syntax that can be fruitfully compared to animal call combinations. This is the essential groundwork that must be explored and integrated before we can elucidate, with sufficient precision, what exactly made it possible for human language to explode its syntactic capacity, transitioning from simple nonproductive combinations to the unrivalled complexity that we now have.
dc.format.extent7
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofPLoS Oneen
dc.rights© 2018 Townsend et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en
dc.subjectRC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatryen
dc.subjectT-NDASen
dc.subject.lccRC0321en
dc.titleCompositionality in animals and humansen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.description.versionPublisher PDFen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciencesen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolutionen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Psychology and Neuroscienceen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2006425
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden


This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record