WEEK 1: ORIGINS of MODERN MAN and LANGUAGE Feb. 22
Section outline
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Topics: Cognition, intelligence and creativity
Language as instinct vs. social learning
Hominids vs. modern humans: What to add to the mind to get language? (John Searle)
Animal communication systems vs. human language (David Premack)
The search for human ancestors in Ethiopia, TED Talk, by Z. Alemseged
https://www.ted.com/talks/zeresenay_alemseged_looks_for_humanity_s_roots?language=en
What are the reasons for the rise of humans and modern language? TED Talk by Y. N. Harari 2015: https://www.ted.com/talks/yuval_noah_harari_what_explains_the_rise_of_humans
QUESTIONS TO TACKLE in class
Readings: Language in Mind: Introduction to Psycholinguistics, by Julie Sedivy 2018, ch. 2, pp. 9-31