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"The discovery of “linguistic universals”, the properties that all languages havein common, is a fundamental goal of linguistic research. Linguists face the task of accounting for why languages, which apparently differ so greatly fromone another on the surface, display striking similarities in their underlyingstructure. This volume brings together a team of leading experts to show howdifferent linguistic theories have approached this challenge. Drawing on workfrom both formal and functional perspectives, it provides a comprehensiveoverview of the most notable work on linguistic universals, with chapterson syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology, and typology, and explores arange of central issues, such as the relationship between linguistic universalsand the language faculty, and what linguistic universals can tell us about ourbiological make-up and cognitive abilities. Clear, succinct, and fully up-todate,it will be invaluable to anyone seeking a greater understanding of thephenomenon that is human language."

"Sign languages are of great interest to linguists, because, although they are the product of the same brain, their physical transmission differs greatly from that of spoken languages. In this pioneering and original study, Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin compare sign languages with spoken languages, in order to seek the universal properties they share. Drawing on general linguistic theory, they describe and analyze sign language structure, showing linguistic universals in the phonology, morphology, and syntax of sign language, while also revealing non-universal aspects of its structure that must be attributed to its physical transmission system. No prior background in sign language linguistics is assumed, and numerous pictures are provided to make descriptions of signs and facial expressions accessible to readers. Engaging and informative."

"This is a new and groundbreaking study ofho w children acquire language and howthis affects language change over the generations. Written by an international team ofe xperts, the volume proceeds from the basis that we should address not only the language faculty per se within the framework of evolutionary theory, but also the origins and subsequent development oflanguages themselves; languages evolve via cultural rather than biological transmission on a historical rather than genetic timescale. The book is distinctive in utilizing computational simulation and modeling to help ensure that the theories constructed are complete and precise. Drawing on a wide range ofe xamples, the book covers the why and how ofspecific syntactic universals, the nature ofsyntactic change, the language-learning mechanisms needed to acquire an existing linguistic system accurately and to impose further structure on an emerging system, and the evolution oflanguage(s) in relation to this learning mechanism."