Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Essay
Nature 456, 40-41 (6 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/456040a; Published online 5 November 2008
Open Innovation Challenges
-
Methods of Modeling Adaptation in Populations
The analysis of adaptation with a population is a frequently encountered computational modeling scen...
-
Novel Approaches to Protecting Maize from Insect Damage
The Seeker is looking for novel approaches to protecting maize from insect damage. This Challenge re...
- More Challenges
- Powered by:
nature jobs
Associate Scientific Manager / Scientific Manager-Organic / Medicinal Chemistry
- Syngene International
- Bangalore, Karnataka 560099 India
Postdoctoral Fellows
- The Mathematical Biosciences Institute
- Ohio, USA
Being Human: Language: a social history of words
Eörs Szathmáry1 & Szabolcs Számadó1
- Eörs Szathmáry and Szabolcs Számadó are at the Biological Institute of Eötvös Loránd University, 1/c Pázmány Péter sétány, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary. E.S. is also at the Collegium Budapest and the Parmenides Center for the Study of Thinking, Munich, Germany.
Email: szathmary@colbud.hu
Abstract
Language evolved as part of a uniquely human group of traits, the interdependence of which calls for an integrated approach to the study of brain function, argue Eörs Szathmáry and Szabolcs Számadó.
Our ability to communicate using language is often cited as the element that sets us apart from other animals. Although language is not uniquely human in all aspects — dogs and apes, for example, can learn the meaning of many words — it almost certainly merits special status.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Cognitive neurophysiology: Signs of language in the brainNature News and Views (24 Jul 1986)
