Derek Bickerton
Derek Bickerton (born March 25, 1926 in Cheshire , † March 5, 2018 in Honolulu ) was an American linguist .
In 1949 Derek Bickerton graduated from Cambridge University in England. In the 1960s he began his academic activities, first at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana (English literature), then in the field of linguistics at the University of Leeds . From 1967 to 1971 he was a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Guyana . It was there that he developed a lifelong interest in Creole languages .
In 1976 he earned a Ph. D. in Linguistics from Cambridge University. He spent a year at Lancaster University in England. From 1983 he was professor of linguistics at the University of Hawaii in Hawaii.
Like Noam Chomsky, he was of the opinion that we humans have an innate universal grammar. He interviewed Hawaiians born between 1900 and 1920 and was thus able to prove the transition from the Pidgin to the Creole language that took place during this period . He concluded from this that our genetically “pre-programmed” grammar corresponds to that of the Creole language.
Publications
- Tropicana, A Novel. , 1963
- Dynamics Of A Creole System , 1975
-
Roots of Language , 1981, Karoma Publishers, ISBN 0897200446
- Roots of Language , 2016, Language Science Press, ISBN 978-3-946234-08-1 http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/91
- The language bioprogram hypothesis , in: The Behavioral Sciences 7, 173-188, 1984.
- Language and Human Behavior , 1995
- Lingua ex Machina: Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky with the Human Brain , 2000 (with William H. Calvin )
- Adam's Tongue: How Humans Made Language, How Language Made Humans , 2010, ISBN 978-0809016471
- More Than Nature Needs: Language, Mind, and Evolution , 2014, ISBN 978-0674724907
Film adaptations
- 1960: dirty money ( payroll )
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary , legacy.com, accessed March 18, 2018
- ↑ Source: Jared Diamond : The Third Chimpanzee . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 978-3-10-013912-2 , Chapter 8 “Bridges to human language” p. 183 ff., Reference from p. 208
Web links
- Literature by and about Derek Bickerton in the catalog of the German National Library
- Derek Bickerton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bickerton, Derek |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American linguist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 25, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cheshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | 5th March 2018 |
| Place of death | Honolulu |