Antonio Benítez‐burraco
Biographic Data
| ID | 667367 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Antonio Benítez‐burraco |
| GIVEN NAMES | Antonio |
| FAMILY NAME | Benítez‐burraco |
| SIGNATURE | BURRACO A B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universidad de Sevilla |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4574-5666 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
“Decorative” morphology in Spanish: At the crossroads of typology and sociolinguistics
Human languages are hypothesized to be adapted to the functions they fulfill. Specifically, their structure has been claimed to be optimized for efficient communication and easy learning. Nonetheless, languages also exhibit many “extravagant” features, with no clear role in information transfer or language acquisition. Building on typological research on this topic, in this paper we present evidence that varieties of Spanish (colloquial mostly) f…
Sensitivity to ideophones by child non-native speakers increases with age
Sound-symbolic effects have been claimed to facilitate word learning, because of the motivated relationship between form and meaning. According to some views, such effects result from human-specific perceptive and cognitive biases and can be thus universal. This paper tests the sensibility to ideophones (a type of sound-symbolic words) by children acquiring Spanish, a language lacking this word class. Results show that younger children are mostly…
The Role of Play in Language Structure, Acquisition and Evolution
Similarly to language, play is an essential component of human behaviour and culture. However, the links between play and language have been underexamined and often neglected beyond the aesthetic uses of language as found in literature. But playing pervades language. In this paper, we provide an overview of the central role of play in shaping language structure, use, acquisition, and evolution. Accordingly, many aspects of language structure can …
Color–emotion associations by speakers of Spanish and Mandarin in verbal and visual tasks: A comparison
This study aims to determine if there are differences in color–emotion association between monolingual speakers of Spanish and Mandarin, depending on how colors are presented (verbally or visually). We tested two groups of 25 speakers of these two languages in two different tasks using the Geneva Emotion Wheel, which encompasses 20 types of emotions. In Task 1, 13 colors were presented to participants as color terms in their native language, wher…
Revisiting the hypothesis of ideophones as windows to language evolution
Ideophones stand out as promising constructions to be considered as linguistic “fossils”. Allegedly, this is due to some of their distinctive features, including their sound-symbolic nature, ample use of reduplication, reliance on the simplest combinatorial processes, attachment to emotional content, and presumed bootstrapping effects on language acquisition. These features might exhibit some continuity with primate communication systems, includi…
A philosophical analysis of the emergence of language
There is a research programme in linguistics that is founded on describing language as an emergent phenomenon. This paper clarifies how the core concept of emergence is deployed in this emergentist programme. We show that if one adopts the weak understandings of the concept of language emergence, the emergentist programme is not fundamentally different from the other non‐emergentist research programmes in linguistics. On the other hand, if one ad…
The absence of a trade-off between morphological and syntactic complexity
The hypothesis that all languages are equally complex often invokes a trade-off principle, according to which if a language is more complex in one particular domain, it will be simpler in another different domain. In this paper, we use data from WALS to test the existence of a trade-off between two specific domains: morphology and syntax. Contrary to widespread views, we did not find a negative correlation between these two language domains, but …
The (Co)Evolution of Language and Music Under Human Self-Domestication
Together with language, music is perhaps the most distinctive behavioral trait of the human species. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in our species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the self-domestication view of human evolution, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process simila…
Human self-domestication and the evolution of prosody
Human self-domestication refers to a new evolutionary hypothesis about human origins. According to this view, humans have experienced changes that are similar to those observed in domesticated mammals and that have provided us with many of the behavioural, and perhaps cognitive pre-requisites for supporting our complex social practices and advanced culture. At the core of this hypothesis is the claim that self-domestication is triggered by (and e…
Recent selection of candidate genes for mammal domestication in Europeans and language change in Europe: A hypothesis
We hypothesise that these changes might account for the increased features of self-domestication in modern humans and, ultimately, for subtle recent changes in human cognition and behaviour, including language
Prehistoric languages and human self-domestication
The comparative method has enabled us to trace distant phylogenetic relationships among languages and reconstruct extinct languages from the past. Nonetheless, it has limitations, mostly resulting from the circumstance that languages also change by contact with unrelated languages and in response to external factors, particularly, aspects of human cognition and features of our physical and cultural environments. In this paper, it is argued that t…
Chield: The causal hypotheses in evolutionary linguistics database
Language is one of the most complex of human traits. There are many hypotheses about how it originated, what factors shaped its diversity, and what ongoing processes drive how it changes. We present the Causal Hypotheses in Evolutionary Linguistics Database (CHIELD, https://chield.excd.org/), a tool for expressing, exploring, and evaluating hypotheses. It allows researchers to integrate multiple theories into a coherent narrative, helping to desi…
Playing with language, creating complexity: Has play contributed to the evolution of complex language
We argue that enhanced play may have contributed to the emergence of complex language systems in modern humans ( Homo sapiens ). To support this idea, we first discuss evidence for an expansion of playing behavior connected to the extended childhood of modern human children, and the potential of this period for the transmission of complex cultural traits, including language. We then link two of the most important functions of play—exploration and…
A four-stage model for language evolution under the effects of human self-domestication
Grammaticalization and language evolution: Focusing the debate
Es el lenguaje (complejo) el resultado de una transferencia genética entre neandertales y humanos modernos
La reciente constatación de ADN neandertal en determinadas poblaciones humanas modernas sugiere un cruce limitado entre ambas especies. Esta transferencia genética pudo haber afectado a las capacidades cognitivas de los neandertales y justificar, en particular, que hubiesen tenido lenguaje moderno. Tal posibilidad se examina a la luz de las propias evidencias genéticas, pero también de las de tipo paleoantropológico y arqueológico utilizadas habi…
On the Inference 'Neanderthals Had Foxp2 = They Had Complex Language
The (Co)Evolution of Language and Music Under Human Self-Domestication
Together with language, music is perhaps the most distinctive behavioral trait of the human species. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in our species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the self-domestication view of human evolution, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process simila…
A four-stage model for language evolution under the effects of human self-domestication
Grammaticalization and language evolution: Focusing the debate
Human self-domestication and the evolution of prosody
Human self-domestication refers to a new evolutionary hypothesis about human origins. According to this view, humans have experienced changes that are similar to those observed in domesticated mammals and that have provided us with many of the behavioural, and perhaps cognitive pre-requisites for supporting our complex social practices and advanced culture. At the core of this hypothesis is the claim that self-domestication is triggered by (and e…
On the Inference 'Neanderthals Had Foxp2 = They Had Complex Language
Es el lenguaje (complejo) el resultado de una transferencia genética entre neandertales y humanos modernos
La reciente constatación de ADN neandertal en determinadas poblaciones humanas modernas sugiere un cruce limitado entre ambas especies. Esta transferencia genética pudo haber afectado a las capacidades cognitivas de los neandertales y justificar, en particular, que hubiesen tenido lenguaje moderno. Tal posibilidad se examina a la luz de las propias evidencias genéticas, pero también de las de tipo paleoantropológico y arqueológico utilizadas habi…
On the Inference 'Neanderthals Had Foxp2 = They Had Complex Language
Grammaticalization and language evolution: Focusing the debate
Prehistoric languages and human self-domestication
The comparative method has enabled us to trace distant phylogenetic relationships among languages and reconstruct extinct languages from the past. Nonetheless, it has limitations, mostly resulting from the circumstance that languages also change by contact with unrelated languages and in response to external factors, particularly, aspects of human cognition and features of our physical and cultural environments. In this paper, it is argued that t…
Chield: The causal hypotheses in evolutionary linguistics database
Language is one of the most complex of human traits. There are many hypotheses about how it originated, what factors shaped its diversity, and what ongoing processes drive how it changes. We present the Causal Hypotheses in Evolutionary Linguistics Database (CHIELD, https://chield.excd.org/), a tool for expressing, exploring, and evaluating hypotheses. It allows researchers to integrate multiple theories into a coherent narrative, helping to desi…
Playing with language, creating complexity: Has play contributed to the evolution of complex language
We argue that enhanced play may have contributed to the emergence of complex language systems in modern humans ( Homo sapiens ). To support this idea, we first discuss evidence for an expansion of playing behavior connected to the extended childhood of modern human children, and the potential of this period for the transmission of complex cultural traits, including language. We then link two of the most important functions of play—exploration and…
A four-stage model for language evolution under the effects of human self-domestication
Recent selection of candidate genes for mammal domestication in Europeans and language change in Europe: A hypothesis
We hypothesise that these changes might account for the increased features of self-domestication in modern humans and, ultimately, for subtle recent changes in human cognition and behaviour, including language
The (Co)Evolution of Language and Music Under Human Self-Domestication
Together with language, music is perhaps the most distinctive behavioral trait of the human species. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in our species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the self-domestication view of human evolution, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process simila…
Human self-domestication and the evolution of prosody
Human self-domestication refers to a new evolutionary hypothesis about human origins. According to this view, humans have experienced changes that are similar to those observed in domesticated mammals and that have provided us with many of the behavioural, and perhaps cognitive pre-requisites for supporting our complex social practices and advanced culture. At the core of this hypothesis is the claim that self-domestication is triggered by (and e…
Color–emotion associations by speakers of Spanish and Mandarin in verbal and visual tasks: A comparison
This study aims to determine if there are differences in color–emotion association between monolingual speakers of Spanish and Mandarin, depending on how colors are presented (verbally or visually). We tested two groups of 25 speakers of these two languages in two different tasks using the Geneva Emotion Wheel, which encompasses 20 types of emotions. In Task 1, 13 colors were presented to participants as color terms in their native language, wher…
Revisiting the hypothesis of ideophones as windows to language evolution
Ideophones stand out as promising constructions to be considered as linguistic “fossils”. Allegedly, this is due to some of their distinctive features, including their sound-symbolic nature, ample use of reduplication, reliance on the simplest combinatorial processes, attachment to emotional content, and presumed bootstrapping effects on language acquisition. These features might exhibit some continuity with primate communication systems, includi…
A philosophical analysis of the emergence of language
There is a research programme in linguistics that is founded on describing language as an emergent phenomenon. This paper clarifies how the core concept of emergence is deployed in this emergentist programme. We show that if one adopts the weak understandings of the concept of language emergence, the emergentist programme is not fundamentally different from the other non‐emergentist research programmes in linguistics. On the other hand, if one ad…
The absence of a trade-off between morphological and syntactic complexity
The hypothesis that all languages are equally complex often invokes a trade-off principle, according to which if a language is more complex in one particular domain, it will be simpler in another different domain. In this paper, we use data from WALS to test the existence of a trade-off between two specific domains: morphology and syntax. Contrary to widespread views, we did not find a negative correlation between these two language domains, but …
The Role of Play in Language Structure, Acquisition and Evolution
Similarly to language, play is an essential component of human behaviour and culture. However, the links between play and language have been underexamined and often neglected beyond the aesthetic uses of language as found in literature. But playing pervades language. In this paper, we provide an overview of the central role of play in shaping language structure, use, acquisition, and evolution. Accordingly, many aspects of language structure can …
“Decorative” morphology in Spanish: At the crossroads of typology and sociolinguistics
Human languages are hypothesized to be adapted to the functions they fulfill. Specifically, their structure has been claimed to be optimized for efficient communication and easy learning. Nonetheless, languages also exhibit many “extravagant” features, with no clear role in information transfer or language acquisition. Building on typological research on this topic, in this paper we present evidence that varieties of Spanish (colloquial mostly) f…
Sensitivity to ideophones by child non-native speakers increases with age
Sound-symbolic effects have been claimed to facilitate word learning, because of the motivated relationship between form and meaning. According to some views, such effects result from human-specific perceptive and cognitive biases and can be thus universal. This paper tests the sensibility to ideophones (a type of sound-symbolic words) by children acquiring Spanish, a language lacking this word class. Results show that younger children are mostly…
Language and cultural evolution (12 works) · Linguistics (12 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Cognitive science (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Biology (7 works) · Cognition (6 works) · Cognitive psychology (6 works) · Sociology (6 works)