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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book has benefited from discussion and correspondence with a number of scholars, including Michael Arbib, Jill Bowie, Robbins Burling, William Calvin, Noam Chomsky, Tim Crow, Terrence Deacon, Daniel Dennett, Robin Dunbar, Tecumseh Fitch, Tom Givon, Myrna Gopnik, Marc Hauser, James Hurford, Ray Jackendoff, Sverker Johansson, Chris Knight, Steven Mithen, Frederick Newmeyer, Csaba Pléh, Eörs Szathmáry, Maggie Tallerman, and Alison Wray.
I am most grateful to Eörs Szathmáry, Csaba Pléh, and the Collegium Budapest for the four months I spent as a visiting scholar at that institution in 2002, and the interactions with both resident and visiting scholars that took place there.
I thank the then mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, for inviting me to take part in Barcelona’s Forum 2004, where I first made the acquaintance of niche construction theory, and John Odling-Smee for supplying me with materials relating to the theory and critically reading those sections of the present volume that deal with it.
I am also indebted to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh for an invitation to visit the Great Ape Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa, and for discussion with her and her colleagues there.
Any imperfections that remain are my own responsibility entirely.
INDEX
A
Acheulean hand ax, 143, 154, 162, 213, 220
adaptation, 10–11, 64, 92, 103, 110, 156; environment and, 10–11, 94, 105
Aesop’s fables, 134, 135
Africa, 33; climate change, 112; “Out of Africa” hypothesis, 147
African gray parrots, 25, 85, 87
agriculture, 105, 106, 213, 247; niche, 109, 246
alarm calls, 18–19, 22, 42–44, 45–46, 51, 60–61, 113, 132, 139, 160; “boom,” 42;
monkey, 42–44, 47, 53, 60–61, 68–69, 116–17, 200–201, 206; phony, 26; as precursors of words, 43–44, 116
Alaska, 11
Alex (parrot), 85, 196
ambiguity, 44
ambush hunting, 118
American Sign Language, 3, 77
analogy, 86–87, 129, 131
animal communication systems (ACSs), 16–36, 37–38, 40, 72, 143–44, 160, 171, l77, 195, 215–19; of ants, 134–39, 142, 144, 160; of australopithecines, 113, 116; of bees, 131–34, 144; Chomsky on, 171; combinability and, 41–43, 229–31; fitness and, 18–20, 22–23,:32, of great apes, 56–57, 59–61, 78–79, 116–17; holistic, 65–70; as indexical signs, 47–49, 51, 52, 53; ladder-to-language theory, 56–57, 60, 116; mating signals, 16–17, 18, 19, 51; of monkeys and great apes compared, 59–61; as precursors of words, 43–47, 116, 144; of ravens, 140; recruitment and, 215–18; social signals, 16–17, 18, 26, 51; survival signals, 16–17, 18–19, 22, 23, 42–44, 45–46, 51, 132; uniqueness and, 20–24; see also types of signals and calls
animal concepts, 197–202
anthropology, 167
ants, 11, 17, 98, 100, 105–106, 134–39, 159–60, 223, 247–48; ACSs of, 134–39, 142, 144, 160; food sources of, 135–39, 141–42; concatenation, 136–37; predication, 136, 137–38; recruitment, 134–39, 141–42
apes, 10, 16, 55–72, 114; ACSs of, 56–57, 59–61, 78–79, 116–17; brains, 81–83; calls, 56–57; distinction between words and proper names, 80; ego-centered conversation, 78–79; “getting it,” 81–83; language abilities of, 73–91, 201–202; language foundations in behavior of, 55–57, 58; “nursing poke,” 19; signs put together spontaneously, 80–81; social intelligence of, 26–27, 56, 90, 114; tools used by, 26, 120; in the wild, 83–85; see also great apes; specific apes
aphids, 247
appeasement signals, 17
aquatic ape hypothesis, 62
arrowheads, 203
Ascher, Robert, 45; “The Human Revolution, ” 45
associativity, principle of, 187–88
Aterian points, 203–204, 213
australopithecines, 112–27, 146, 150; gracile, 112–15, 117; hunting, 117–19; niches, 113–15; predation, 113–14, 117–19; robust, 112, 113; scavenging, 119–27; social life, 113–15
Australopithecus garhi, 113, 120, 121
B
baboons, 117, 155
Baldwin effect, 142
baleen whales, 100
barbed weapons, 224
Barcelona Forum (2004), 98
Bastard Tongues (Bickerton), 39, 79, 170
bats, 129
bears, 203
beavers, n, 93–94, 100; dams, 93, 99
bees, 16, 106, 131–34, 135, 138, 141, 160, 223; ACSs of, 131–34, 144; displacement, 131–34; niche construction and, 131–34; recruitment, 132–33
behavior, and genetics, 96–97, 99–100, 106, 130, 142, 184
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 71
behaviorism, 169
Bible, 134
big cats, 114, 119, 125, 127
biology, 14, 54
bipedalism, 20, 64, 113, 118, 150
birds, 10, 17, 20, 40, 129, 175, 196–99; alarm calls, 44, 45; brains, 196–99; eggs, 113; language potential of, 10, 85; as predators, 114; recruitment, 139–41; social signals, 19; see also specific birds
blended calls, 45–46
Bloom, Paul, 180
body language, 22, 47
Boesch, Christopher, 26
bones, 120–21, 155; cut marks on, 125–26, 220; marrow, as food source, 120–21, 127, 151, 152, 155, 220
bonobos, 16, 24–25, 56, 78, 85, 89–91, 115; ACSs of, 59–61, 116; behavior compared to chimpanzees, 111–12; language abilities of, 78, 89–91; niches of, 109–10, in; social intelligence of, 56, 90–91
“boom” vocalization, 42
Botswana, 230
bottlenose dolphins, 25
Bowie, Jill, 228
Boyd, Robert, 167
Boyle, Robert, 74
brain, 5, 81–82, 192–95, 219, 233; ape, 81–83; big-brain fallacy, 32–34; Chomsky on, 183–84, 190; concepts and, 195–210; evolution, 205; function of, 192–95; Hebb’s Rule, 82; human development of, 70–71, 190; la
nguage and, 58, 193–95; “offline thinking, ” 194, 208; “online thinking, ” 194, 208; rewiring of, 183–84, 190, 214; size, 24–25, 32–34, 56, 88, 121, 141, 142, 212–13; see also intelligence; mind
Burke, Johnny, 29
Byrne, Richard, 26, 31
C
Calvin, William, 162, 233
Campbell’s monkeys, 42
Camponotus socius, 137
carcasses, megafauna, 121–27, 155–56, 161–68, 218–21, 247
caribou, 124
caste systems, 248
catchment scavenging, 123–24, 125–26, 151, 155–56, 220
categories vs. concepts, 204–209, 210
caterpillars, 113
cats, big, 114, 119, 125, 127
cattle, 247
Central America, 33
chaos theory, 168
chemical signals, 135–36, 137, 143
children, 77–79; care of, 10, 13; language acquisition in, 77–79, 185–86, 222; see also infants
chimpanzees, 24, 28, 55, 56, 85, 104, 115, 136, 146, 203; ACSs of, 59–61, 116; behavior compared to bonobos, 111–12; carnivores and, 117–18; gender roles, 161; language abilities of, 73; niches of, 109–10, in; poor hearing in, 176; social intelligence, 56; tools of, 26, 120
Chomsky, Noam, 48, 130, 169–91, 230; criticism of, 169–70, 238–40; on grammar, 241–45; on language evolution, 168, 169–91, 192, 245; Merge and, 181, 182, 186–90, 234, 235, 242–45; on recursion, 173–74, 82, 238–45; Science paper on language evolution, 128, 171–91, 245; Syntactic Structures, 240, 242
chromosomes, 150
cities, 213
Clever Hans, 75–76
climate change, 94, 109, 112, 117, 154
Cognition, 179
cognitive psychology, 195–96
colobus monkeys, 26
combinability, 41–43, 229–31
common sense, 77
competition, see social competitiveness
complex artifacts, construction of, 19
computers, 90, 91, 185, 192, 193, 207; RAM vs. CAM memory, 207
concatenation, 136–37
concepts, 195–210; animal, 197–202; categories vs., 204–209, 210; division between humans and nonhumans, 202–204; emergence of words and, 207–209