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Biological adaptations for functional features of language in the face of cultural evolution
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Christiansen, Morten H., Reali, Florencia and Chater, Nick (2011) Biological adaptations for functional features of language in the face of cultural evolution. Human Biology, Volume 83 (Number 2). pp. 247-259. doi:10.3378/027.083.0206
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3378/027.083.0206
Abstract
Although there may be no true language universals, it is nonetheless possible to discern several family resemblance patterns across the languages of the world. Recent work on the cultural evolution of language indicates the source of these patterns is unlikely to be an innate universal grammar evolved through biological adaptations for arbitrary linguistic features. Instead, it has been suggested that the patterns of resemblance emerge because language has been shaped by the brain, with individual languages representing different but partially overlapping solutions to the same set of nonlinguistic constraints. Here, we use computational simulations to investigate whether biological adaptation for functional features of language, deriving from cognitive and communicative constraints, may nonetheless be possible alongside rapid cultural evolution. Specifically, we focus on the Baldwin effect as an evolutionary mechanism by which previously learned linguistic features might become innate through natural selection across many generations of language users. The results indicate that cultural evolution of language does not necessarily prevent functional features of language from becoming genetically fixed, thus potentially providing a particularly informative source of constraints on cross-linguistic resemblance patterns.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Historical linguistics, Evolutionary psychology, Grammar, Comparative and general, Coevolution, Social evolution | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Human Biology | ||||
| Publisher: | Wayne State University Press | ||||
| ISSN: | 0018-7143 | ||||
| Official Date: | April 2011 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Volume 83 | ||||
| Number: | Number 2 | ||||
| Page Range: | pp. 247-259 | ||||
| DOI: | 10.3378/027.083.0206 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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