The origin of language.
What is unique about language:
1. Its structure enables unbounded yet faithful transmission of information: we can produce an infinite range of
messages, and they can be transmitted with very high fidelity, without alterations.
The only other example of such mechanism in nature is the genetic code.
2. The other thing that makes language unique is that the lexicon is flexible: new words can be added, and the
meanings of the words can change.
3. The next thing unique about language is that it can be reliably acquired purely by the observation of its use. So
language not only transmits semantic information; it also transmits information about its own construction.
4. Language is symbolic in nature—a completely unrelated symbol can stand for a thought or thing
5. Human language has syntax—which allows us to communicate complex thoughts which had never been stated.
Facts about language
2.4 million years ago the first stone tools were made; but does not have to point out to any language.
2 million years ago the hominid brain began a period of rapid expansion, including the areas that are responsible for
speech.
300,000 years ago (according to skeletal studies) hominids were anatomically modern, and they have the descended
larynx. It points out to some kind of speech or at least the possibility of speech.
200,000-100,000—the final mutation of the gene FOXP2, the speech gene, took place.
50,000 fully developed language was in place; at that time humans in Europe were creating art and burying their dead,
which point to fluent language.
By 30,000 BC all other species of humanoids seem to have been supplanted by Homo sapiens—could the success of
our species against other humanoid species be explained by the possession of language?
The physiological and psychological requirements for language to appear
For language to appear, a number of abilities had to co-occur:
- an ability to mimic sounds;
- the intelligence to think and learn and to generalise and relate objects and events;
- a sensitivity to differences in sound sequences;
- the fine neural control of the articulatory anatomy
Advantages of the lowered larynx
– Changes the acoustic properties of the vocal tract: it increases the total length of the vocal tract.
As a result the sounds produced by such a vocal tract are perceived as if they were produced by a larger animal.
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it creates a bend in the middle allowing for production of a wider range of vowels (thus increasing the amount
of information that can be carried);
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It is possible that the lowering of the larynx appeared as an adaptation: an animal that sounded as if it were
larger than in reality would have better chances of survival and such a male would be also more attractive to
females.
Once the larynx was lowered, some additional function, that is speech, was found for it.
Another possibility is that descended larynx was itself the result of an adaptation to communication.
The main assumptions of evolutionism:
- new species appear as a result of evolution
- evolution operates via natural selection
- natural selection means that any organism that is somehow better adapted to a given environment is more
likely to survive than an organism that does not have such a feature/or adaptation
- new features / adaptations appear as a result of random mutations
- new features that prove to be useful to organisms are transmitted to the next generation and enter into the gene
pool of the given species
- as a result of accumulation of small changes new species emerge
- there is no design to the changes, there is no purpose other than to survive, there is no creator involved
- extinct fossilized forms can provide us evidence for transitional links: between the ancestral forms to
contemporary forms.
The theory of evolution, originally designed to explain the variability in the world of nature was applied to explain
human behaviour, language included.
The evolutionist perspective is that people developed language in the process of evolution of the human species.
However, the issue of evolutionary origin of speech can be approached from different and competing angles:
1) assumption that language is innate—genetically specified in the human organism, a product of natural
selection; or
2) the properties of language can be accounted for by general cognitive capabilities that did not develop as a
consequence of language-specific selective pressures.
In other words:
1) language is an adaptation
2) language is a spandrel
Language is a spandrel
The claim that language is not an adaptation but a by-product of other evolutionary processes.
Steven Jay Gould: natural selection made the brain big, but many or our metal properties and potentials are
byproducts, that is spandrels, of having such a big brain. Once they appeared, they could be used to many other
functions as well.
Language is an adaptation
Adaptation: Language evolved in response to some selection pressure toward improved communication between
humans.
First proposed by Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom in 1990 in their paper “Natural Language and Natural Selection”
1) Language developed in response to the need of better communication between hunters; oral expressions were
simply the optimal way to solve the problem. This is connected with the idea that verbal communication
developed from sign communication—if you have two hands busy it is difficult to show signs. On the other
hand, American Indians who were hunters-gatherers developed a special sign language for the hunters: when
you are tracking an animal vocal communication will betray you. And even contemporary hunters and anglers
know it that you have to keep quiet.
2) The next idea is that language could develop from a series of “oral gestures”—the presence of an animal could
be signaled by the imitation of sounds that this animal produces; or by asking for help in pushing something,
the sounds accompanying pushing would be produced.
3) Next idea is that any group of people able to exchange information about the surrounding would have an
advantage over groups that couldn’t. It means the instant ability to communicate about food supplies, possible
danger, and weather conditions. It also allows preserving that information and passing it to the next
generation. It also means that knowledge of one member of a group can be easily transmitted to the other
members of the group. Thus, a group with a language is much more likely to survive than a group without a
language.
4) Another pressure for language development is the social group itself. The situation in a group is usually
complex and it is easier to solve with some kind of communication system (even in the animal world the
animals that create big communities such as bees, termites, dolphins, etc. tend to develop quite efficient ways
of communication). Also living a group poses a greater demand on cognitive abilities. So individuals which
are better adapted to exist in a group are favoured by natural selection. And it may mean development of
language.
The protolanguage theory
Language is complex and unique, there is a gap between animal communication and human language. We have what
Derek Bickerton called the Paradox of Continuity: language must have evolved from some precursor, yet no similar
precursor exists.
In the 90s Derek Bickerton proposed that there existed a protolanguage—a stage in between when early men used
articulated cries and when modern men used fully complex speech.
Only later in human evolution, in the time of Upper Paleolithic (100,000-40,000) full language with syntax developed.
Bickerton believes that a mutation took place that affected the structure of the brain (not the size). It turned
protolanguage into language as well.
By analogy to fossils in biology, Bickerton claimed that we can find living fossils:
– in the way pidgin languages are structured,
– in the way children acquire language and
– in the way that apes use language they are trained.
All these cases of language use have simplifications in grammar and vocabulary and the function of communication is
the sole function realized.
Bickerton’s idea also allows solving the paradox of the descended larynx: the descended larynx is evolutionarily
disadvantageous unless it is used for the production of articulate speech, but articulate speech cannot exist without the
right shape of the vocal tract.
He solves it by suggesting that the vocal tract evolved gradually toward faster and clearer articulation of
protolanguage, and only then did fully grammatical language develop.
The Meme theory of language
Richard Dawkins’ concept of a meme presented for the first time in 1976 in his famous book The selfish gene.
Genes according to Dawkins:
• Genes are replicators: their sole purpose is making more copies, as accurate as possible and as many as
possible.
• All organisms, people included, are carriers of genes, as gene machines, that are made by genes to breed in
order to pass on the genes.
• The evolution operates on the level of a gene: if a gene is well adapted and somehow better than other
competing genes, the organism that it lives in is likely to survive and leave more offspring, that is more genes.
• In this sense successful genes are immortal.
Memes according to Dawkins and Blackmore:
• A meme is a cultural analog of a gene, a unit of heredity.
• It is defined as a “unit of cultural transmission”.
• A meme is a cultural idea held by someone who believes it.
• Examples of memes are diverse: tunes, ideas, clothes fashions, what you expect of a partner, ways of making
pots, etc.
• A meme is pure information that is manifested in the world by human activity.
• Memes are replicators: their purpose of existence is making copies
• They propagate themselves through the transmission from one person to another.
• Propagation of a meme depends on its content: some spread better, some do not spread and disappear
from culture;
• Memes can also mutate (e.g. changing words in a well-known tune);
• Mutations may also replicate.
• The more adherents or people using a certain “meme”, the more successful the meme is.
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Deacon’s theory of cultural evolution
In 1997 Terrence Deacon proposed that we should look at language as a human artifact.
It language itself undergoes natural selection and adapts rather than brain.
Linguistic variants compete among each other for representation in people’s minds.
Those that are most easily learned by humans will be most successful, and will spread.
So we talk here about cultural evolution not of biological evolution.
This theory, though elegant and attractive, is anti-biological, because it emphasizes the adaptation of language itself
neglecting any modifications of the brain. Coevolution of brain and language seems more likely.