Journal
LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION
Volume 28, Issue 3, Pages 197-212Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.langcom.2007.05.002
Keywords
language evolution; MSA shell beads; symbolic meanings; MSA symbolic behaviour; fully syntactical language; pidgin languages; Blombos Cave
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Humans had fully syntactical language as early as 75,000 years ago. This has been inferred from properties of a number of Middle Stone Age (MSA) shell beads excavated at Blombos Cave in South Africa. Addressing the question Can one learn something about the evolution of language from prehistoric shell beads?, the article analyses the chain of inferential steps by which this conclusion was reached. It argues that some of these steps are problematic in not being underpinned by well-articulated theories of what fully syntactical language is and of wily a complex form of syntax is a requisite for transmitting MSA symbolic meanings. At a more general level, the article, moreover, fleshes out the concept of a window on language evolution by contrasting the shell bead window with the window provided by pidgin languages in regard to the form of inference they embody and the purpose for which they are used. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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