基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2006. Asks the question 'what do interactions between apes and humans mediated by language tell us?'. To answer this question the authors explore language-in-context, drawing on a multi-leveled, multi-functional linguistics, discussing in particular a negotiation between the bonobo Kanzi and Sue Savage-Rumbaugh in terms of discourse-semantics, lexicogrammar, and the ideational and interpersonal metafunctions of language.
Full Description
Functional Dimensions of Ape-Human Discourse asks the question 'what do interactions between apes and humans mediated by language tell us?'. In order to answer this question the authors explore language-in-context, drawing on a multi-leveled, multi-functional linguistics. The levels are context of culture, context of situation, semantics, lexicogrammar, and phonology; and the functions are ideational, interpersonal, and textual. Chapter 1 discusses a negotiation between the bonobo Kanzi and Sue Savage-Rumbaugh in terms of discourse-semantics, lexicogrammar, and the ideational and interpersonal metafunctions of language. Chapter 2 reinterprets Sue Savage-Rumbaugh et. al. Language Comprehension in Ape and Child (1993) in terms of the ideational metafunction, and provides corroborative evidence for Kanzi's symbolic processing abilities, opening a window into the consciousness of at least one non-human primate.
Chapter 3 compares three snapshots from comprehensive studies based on large amounts of data (monkey calls, language development in a human child, and a dialogue between Kanzi's sibling Panbanisha and Sue Savage-Rumbaugh) from an evolutionary perspective, showing different ways in which the level of grammar comes to be wedged in between semantics and expression. Chapter 4 articulates a methodology incorporating public domain software for the comprehensive analysis of ape-human interaction. Although bonobo-human interaction is used as an example, the methodology could be utilized for studies of chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.
Contents
Preface; Acknowledgements; List of contributors; Chapter 1. The interpersonal dimension: Confrontation and support in bonobo-human discourse; James D. Benson, Peter Fries, William S. Greaves, Kazyoshi Iwamoto, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Jared P. Taglialatela; Chapter 2. The ideational dimension: Evidence for symbolic language processing in a bonobo (Pan paniscus); James D. Benson, William S. Greaves , Michael O'Donnell and Jared P. Taglialatela; Chapter 3. The evolutionary dimension: The thin edge of the wedge -- grammar and discourse in the evolution of langauge; James D. Benson, William S. Greaves, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Jared P. Taglialatela and Paul J. Thibault; Chapter 4. The multistratal dimension: A methodology for phonetic analysis of vocalizations of language competent Bonobos; James D. Benson, Meena Debashish, William S. Greaves, Jennifer Lukas, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Jared P. Taglialialatela
