How the Brain Got Language: The Mirror System Hypothesis

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 16
PART I: Setting the Stage......Page 20
Lampposts and the Specialization of Science......Page 22
My First Lamppost: Schema Theory for Basic Neuroethology......Page 23
My Second Lamppost: Schema Theory for Vision and Dexterity......Page 29
Perception and Cooperative Computation......Page 32
Schema Theory in Historical Perspective......Page 35
The Self as “Schema Encyclopedia”......Page 37
My Third Lamppost: Embodied Neurolinguistics......Page 39
My Fourth Lamppost: Social Schemas......Page 42
And So We Come to Mirror Neurons and the Mirror System Hypothesis......Page 46
Individuals Do Not Speak the Same Language......Page 49
Pro and Con Compositionality......Page 54
Co-Speech Gestures and Sign Language......Page 58
From Phrase Structure to Universal Grammar......Page 62
Universal Grammar or Unidentified Gadgets?......Page 66
Language in an Action-Oriented Framework......Page 73
Cognitive Linguistics and Construction Grammar......Page 78
A Visually Grounded Version of Construction Grammar......Page 84
Vocalization......Page 91
Facial Expressions......Page 96
Manual Gesture......Page 97
Teaching “Language” to Apes......Page 102
4. Human Brain, Monkey Brain, and Praxis......Page 105
Learning From Comparative Neurobiology......Page 108
Introducing the Human Brain......Page 110
Motivation and Emotion: The Motors of Behavior......Page 117
Beyond the Here and Now......Page 121
Introducing the Macaque Brain......Page 126
Modeling the Grasping Brain......Page 129
Auditory Systems and Vocalization......Page 137
Introducing Mirror Neurons......Page 141
Modeling How Mirror Neurons Learn and Function......Page 147
Mirror Systems in the Human......Page 154
From Mirror Neurons to Understanding......Page 157
PART II: Developing the Hypothesis......Page 166
The Story So Far......Page 168
Evolution Is Subtle......Page 170
Human Evolution: Biological and Cultural......Page 173
Protolanguage Versus Language......Page 181
Signposts: Expanding the Mirror System Hypothesis......Page 189
Simple and Complex Imitation......Page 194
Via Pantomime to Protosign......Page 195
Protosign and Protospeech: An Expanding Spiral......Page 197
How Languages Got Started......Page 198
How Languages Emerge......Page 200
How Languages Keep Changing......Page 201
Imitation in Apes and Monkeys......Page 203
Complex Imitation: Mirror Neurons are not Enough......Page 206
Neonatal Imitation......Page 212
Over-imitation......Page 214
A Cooperative Framework......Page 217
The Direct and Indirect Path in Imitation......Page 220
Human Imitation is Complex......Page 227
Appendix to Chapter 7: Notes Towards Related Modeling......Page 229
From Praxis to Intended Communication......Page 236
Pantomime......Page 240
From Pantomime to Protosign......Page 242
Getting the Idea of (Proto)Language......Page 250
Building Protospeech on the Scaffolding of Protospeech......Page 252
Linking Manual Actions and Speech Production......Page 255
But Did Speech Evolve Directly From Vocalization?......Page 259
Musical Origins......Page 264
Neurobiology of the Expanding Spiral......Page 267
Protosign Vindicated......Page 271
10. How Languages Got Started......Page 274
From Holistic Protolanguages to Construction Grammar......Page 275
Phonology Emerging......Page 292
Even Abstract Language Has Roots in Embodiment......Page 294
The Role of Metaphor......Page 298
Parity Revisited......Page 301
Language Acquisition and the Development of Constructions......Page 307
Perceiving Spoken Words: A Dog Detour......Page 314
Capabilities......Page 317
12. How Languages Emerge......Page 319
Early Experience With and Without Hearing......Page 320
Nicaraguan Sign Language......Page 324
Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language......Page 333
The Accrual of Constructions in Nicaraguan Sign Language and Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language......Page 337
The Influences of Culture and Community......Page 341
Decades or Millennia?......Page 342
Before There Were Languages......Page 345
Protolanguages as Understood in Historical Linguistics......Page 353
Grammaticalization......Page 358
Pidgins, Creoles, and Protolanguage......Page 362
And Language Keeps Evolving......Page 367
Notes......Page 368
References......Page 382
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