Studies in the Evolution of Languages and Techniques

This book makes available, for the first time in English, a selection of the writings of André-Georges Haudricourt (1911-1996) on linguistics, ethnology, and the history of technology. Best known for his work on the evolution of languages, Haudricourt first trained in agronomy in Paris, and studied plant genetics in the laboratory of Nikolaï Vavilov before beginning research in ethnobotany. A deep understanding of evolution and genetics, a functionalist perspective drawn from his interest in technology, and a firm belief that "science is one" inform his work. His main articles, an unpublished item in linguistics, and a book excerpt on the history of the plough are translated here from Haudricourt's famously elliptical French by area specialists, with notes and epilogues to help readers appreciate their scientific and methodological relevance. The collection includes the seminal articles in which Haudricourt argued from comparative and functional linguistics and from cultural history that East Asian tone systems are not a common inheritance but arose in parallel, according to common principles, in languages originally without tone.

The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. The series considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language.