Recursive Merge and Human Language Evolution

2014 ◽  
pp. 243-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koji Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Human Language

Clash of signs: Putting bilingualism back into language evolution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Samuel
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
The Real ◽  
Multiple Languages

Research and thinking into the cognitive aspects of language evolution has usually attempted to account for how the capacity for learning even one modern human language developed. Bilingualism has perhaps been thought of as something to think about only once the ‘real’ puzzle of monolingualism is solved, but this would assume in turn (and without evidence) that bilingualism evolved after monolingualism. All typically-developing children (and adults) are capable of learning multiple languages, and the majority of modern humans are at least bilingual. In this paper I ask whether by skipping bilingualism out of language evolution we have missed a trick. I propose that exposure to synonymous signs, such as food and alarm calls, are a necessary precondition for the abstracting away of sound from referent. In support of this possibility is evidence that modern day bilingual children are better at breaking this ‘word magic’ spell. More generally, language evolution should be viewed through the lens of bilingualism, as this is the end state we are attempting to explain.

scholarly journals The integration hypothesis of human language evolution and the nature of contemporary languages

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeru Miyagawa ◽  
Shiro Ojima ◽  
Robert C. Berwick ◽  
Kazuo Okanoya
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Human Language

scholarly journals Human language evolution: a view from theoretical linguistics on how syntax and the lexicon first came into being

Primates ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruka Fujita ◽  
Koji Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Motor Action ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Gradual Evolution ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Evolutionary Continuity

AbstractHuman language is a multi-componential function comprising several sub-functions each of which may have evolved in other species independently of language. Among them, two sub-functions, or modules, have been claimed to be truly unique to the humans, namely hierarchical syntax (known as “Merge” in linguistics) and the “lexicon.” This kind of species-specificity stands as a hindrance to our natural understanding of human language evolution. Here we challenge this issue and advance our hypotheses on how human syntax and lexicon may have evolved from pre-existing cognitive capacities in our ancestors and other species including but not limited to nonhuman primates. Specifically, we argue that Merge evolved from motor action planning, and that the human lexicon with the distinction between lexical and functional categories evolved from its predecessors found in animal cognition through a process we call “disintegration.” We build our arguments on recent developments in generative grammar but crucially depart from some of its core ideas by borrowing insights from other relevant disciplines. Most importantly, we maintain that every sub-function of human language keeps evolutionary continuity with other species’ cognitive capacities and reject a saltational emergence of language in favor of its gradual evolution. By doing so, we aim to offer a firm theoretical background on which a promising scenario of language evolution can be constructed.

scholarly journals Bridging the gap between genes and language deficits in schizophrenia: an oscillopathic approach

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliot Murphy ◽  
Antonio Benitez-Burraco
Keyword(s):  
Candidate Genes ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Gene Mutations ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Language Deficits ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
Risk Alleles ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Neural Dysfunction

Schizophrenia is characterised by marked language deficits, but it is not clear how these deficits arise from gene mutations linked to or associated with the disease. The goal of this paper is to aid the bridging of the gap between genes and schizophrenia and, ultimately, give support to the view that it represents an abnormal ontogenetic itinerary for the human faculty of language, heavily rooted in the evolutionary processes that brought about modern language. To that end we will focus on how the schizophrenia brain processes language and, particularly, on its distinctive oscillatory profile during language processing: We will argue that brain rhythms constitute the best route to interpret language deficits in this condition and map them to neural dysfunction and risk alleles of the genes. Additionally, we will show that candidate genes for schizophrenia are overrepresented among the set of genes that are believed are important for the evolution of human language. These genes crucially include (and are related to) genes involved in brain rhythmicity. We will claim that this translational effort and the links we uncover may help develop an understanding of language evolution, along with the aetiology of schizophrenia, its clinical/linguistic profile, and its high prevalence among modern populations.

scholarly journals Construction grammar for monkeys?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pleyer ◽  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Key Issues

Abstract In recent years, multiple researchers working on the evolution of language have put forward the idea that the theoretical framework of usage-based approaches and Construction Grammar is highly suitable for modelling the emergence of human language from pre-linguistic or proto-linguistic communication systems. This also raises the question of whether usage-based and constructionist approaches can be integrated with the analysis of animal communication systems. In this paper, we review possible avenues where usage-based, constructionist approaches can make contact with animal communication research, which in turn also has implications for theories of language evolution. To this end, we first give an overview of key assumptions of usage-based and constructionist approaches before reviewing some key issues in animal communication research through the lens of usage-based, constructionist approaches. Specifically, we will discuss how research on alarm calls, gestural communication and symbol-trained animals can be brought into contact with usage-based, constructionist theorizing. We argue that a constructionist view of animal communication can yield new perspectives on its relation to human language, which in turn has important implications regarding the evolution of language. Importantly, this theoretical approach also generates hypotheses that have the potential of complementing and extending results from the more formalist approaches that often underlie current animal communication research.

scholarly journals Long-range sequential dependencies precede complex syntactic production in language acquisition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Sainburg ◽  
Anna Mai ◽  
Timothy Q Gentner
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Developmental Time ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Animal Behaviors ◽  
Linguistic Behavior

AbstractTo convey meaning, human language relies on hierarchically organized, long-range relationships spanning words, phrases, sentences, and discourse. The strength of the relationships between sequentially ordered elements of language (e.g., phonemes, characters, words) decays following a power law as a function of sequential distance. To understand the origins of these relationships, we examined long-range statistical structure in the speech of human children at multiple developmental time points, along with non-linguistic behaviors in humans and phylogenetically distant species. Here we show that adult-like power-law statistical dependencies precede the production of hierarchically-organized linguistic structures, and thus cannot be driven solely by these structures. Moreover, we show that similar long-range relationships occur in diverse non-linguistic behaviors across species. We propose that the hierarchical organization of human language evolved to exploit pre-existing long-range structure present in much larger classes of non-linguistic behavior, and that the cognitive capacity to model long-range hierarchical relationships preceded language evolution. We call this the Statistical Scaffolding Hypothesis for language evolution.1Significance StatementHuman language is uniquely characterized by semantically meaningful hierarchical organization, conveying information over long timescales. At the same time, many non-linguistic human and animal behaviors are also often characterized by richly hierarchical organization. Here, we compare the long-timescale statistical dependencies present in language to those present in non-linguistic human and animal behaviors as well as language production throughout childhood. We find adult-like, long-timescale relationships early in language development, before syntax or complex semantics emerge, and we find similar relationships in non-linguistic behaviors like cooking and even housefly movement. These parallels demonstrate that long-range statistical dependencies are not unique to language and suggest a possible evolutionary substrate for the long-range hierarchical structure present in human language.

scholarly journals Animal cognition and the evolution of human language: why we cannot focus solely on communication

2019 ◽  
Vol 375 (1789) ◽  
pp. 20190046 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Tecumseh Fitch
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Royal Road ◽  
Communicative Signals

Studies of animal communication are often assumed to provide the ‘royal road’ to understanding the evolution of human language. After all, language is the pre-eminent system of human communication: doesn't it make sense to search for its precursors in animal communication systems? From this viewpoint, if some characteristic feature of human language is lacking in systems of animal communication, it represents a crucial gap in evolution, and evidence for an evolutionary discontinuity. Here I argue that we should reverse this logic: because a defining feature of human language is its ability to flexibly represent and recombine concepts, precursors for many important components of language should be sought in animal cognition rather than animal communication. Animal communication systems typically only permit expression of a small subset of the concepts that can be represented and manipulated by that species. Thus, if a particular concept is not expressed in a species' communication system this is not evidence that it lacks that concept. I conclude that if we focus exclusively on communicative signals, we sell the comparative analysis of language evolution short. Therefore, animal cognition provides a crucial (and often neglected) source of evidence regarding the biology and evolution of human language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘What can animal communication teach us about human language?’

scholarly journals A Bird’s Eye View of Human Language Evolution

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Berwick ◽  
Gabriël J. L. Beckers ◽  
Kazuo Okanoya ◽  
Johan J. Bolhuis
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Human Language
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