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Literacy and Language

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Language Evolution and Developmental Impairments

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Abstract

The chapter argues why language has changed more rapidly in the literate part of human evolution. It describes the invention of writing by the Sumerians, and presents an outline of the main writing systems in modern languages. The chapter reviews a number of studies of illiteracy, and raises the question of whether writing also changed the neural circuitries which serve language. It also discusses the question of whether written characters of Chinese and English are processed by different neural structures. The chapter makes an analysis of the process of learning to read and distinguishes between the “technological” and semantic aspects of reading. The relative weighting of these aspects differed in cultural and religious communities, and thereby altered conceptions of what reading is.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Arild Lian

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  1. Arild Lian
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Lian, A. (2016). Literacy and Language. In: Language Evolution and Developmental Impairments. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58746-6_6

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