Xenolinguistics brings together biologists, anthropologists, linguists, and other experts specializing in language and communication to explore what non-human, non-Earthbound language might look like. The 18 chapters examine what is known about human language and animal communication systems to provide reasonable hypotheses about what we may find if we encounter non-Earth intelligence.

Showcasing an interdisciplinary dialogue between a set of highly established scholars, this volume:

Clarifies what is and is not known about human language and animal communication systems
Presents speculative arguments as a philosophical exercise to help define the boundaries of what our current science can tell us about non-speculative areas of investigation
Provides readers with a clearer sense of how our knowledge about language is better informed through a cross-disciplinary investigation
Offers a better understanding of future avenues of research on language

This rich interdisciplinary collection, with chapter authors including Noam Chomsky, Derek Ball, Denise Herzing, and Irene Pepperberg, will be of interest to researchers and students studying non-human communication, astrobiology, and language invention.

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Yes, you can access Xenolinguistics by Douglas A. Vakoch, Jeffrey Punske, Douglas A. Vakoch,Jeffrey Punske in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Languages & Linguistics & Linguistics. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

Year

Print ISBN

eBook ISBN

Edition

Topic

Languages & Linguistics

Subtopic

Linguistics

Index

Languages & Linguistics

Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of Contributors
1 Goals of the Volume
2 Many Ways to Say Things: What the Diversity of Animal Communication on Earth Can Tell Us About the Likely Nature of Alien Language
3 Recognizing Intentional Signals and Their Meanings in Non-Human Communication
4 Getting Out of Our Skin: What Decoding Interspecies Communication and Nonhuman Intelligence Can Tell Us About Deciphering Alien Languages
5 Communicative Resources Beyond the Verbal Tier: A View on Xenolinguistics From Interactional Linguistics
6 How Studies of Communication Among Nonhumans and Between Humans and Nonhumans Can Inform SETI
7 Patterns of Communication of Human Complex Societies as a Blueprint for Alien Communication
8 Interstellar Competence: Applications of Linguistics and Communicative and Cultural Competencies to Extraterrestrial Communication
9 Why Do We Assume That We Can Decode Alien Languages?
10 Xenolinguistic Fieldwork
11 Investigating the Foundations of Meaning in a Xenolanguage
12 A Linguistic Perspective on the Drake Equation: Knowns and Unknowns for Human Languages and Extraterrestrial Communication
13 Cognition, Sensory Input, and Linguistics: A Possible Language for Blind Aliens
14 The Design Features of Extraterrestrial Language: A Domain-General Approach
15 Universal Grammar
16 Where Does Universal Grammar Fit in the Universe? Human Cognition and the Strong Minimalist Thesis
17 Learning and Adaptation of Communication Systems in Biological Life Forms
18 Writing Systems and METI: Off-the-Shelf Encoding of Human Physiology, Language, Cognition, and Culture
Index

About this book

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Table of contents