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The Origin of Language

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Codes and Evolution

Part of the book series: Biosemiotics ((BSEM,volume 29))

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Abstract

Aristotle defined language as an activity that links sound and meaning, and requires therefore the coordination of two distinct systems: a phonetic system that receives and produces sounds (the sensory-motor component of language) and a cognitive system that gives meaning to sounds (the semantic component of language). Modern linguistics has underlined that a third essential component of language is syntax, the set of rules that all combinations of sounds must follow in order to be accepted as valid linguistic expressions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipto. di Morfologia ed Embriologia, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Marcello Barbieri

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  1. Marcello Barbieri
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Barbieri, M. (2024). The Origin of Language. In: Codes and Evolution. Biosemiotics, vol 29. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-58484-8_11

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