Contents

Introduction

PART 1. On the Origin and Evolution of Language

1. The History of the Study of the Origin of Language

PART 2. The Extended Mind Model

2. The Evolution of Notated Language

3. The Extended Mind Model of the Origin of Language

4. A Grand Unification Theory of Human Thought and Culture

PART 3. Comparison and Synthesis of Other Approaches to the Origin of Language

5. How Universal Is Universal Grammar? Chomsky’s Generative Grammar

6. Is the Primary Function of Language Social Communication or the Representation of Abstract Thought?

7. What Are the Mechanisms That Led to Spoken Language?

8. Ontogeny and Language

9. Phylogeny or the Evolutionary History of Language

PART 4. The Synthesis of the Extended Mind Model with Other Approaches

10. The Synthesis of Five Approaches to the Origin of Language

11. Overlaps of the Extended Mind Model with the Work of Clark, Jackendoff, and Schumann

PART 5. The Co-evolution of Culture: Language and Altruism and the Emergence of Universal Culture

12. The Co-evolution of Culture and Language

13. Altruism and the Origin of Language and Culture

14. Culture as an Organism and the Emergence of Universal Culture

Epilogue: The Propagating Organization of Language and Culture

References

Index