Gradualist Approaches to Language Evolution

Progovac, Ljiljana

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03235-7_3

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Nevertheless, an evolutionary trajectory from simple to complex cannot simply be presupposed as axiomatic. A central issue is that of gradualness versus saltation: did human language develop incrementally, bit by bit, as most scholars have generally tended to assume (see Progovac [5] for a recent review of the gradualist position), or did it arrive at its contemporary level of complexity in one single quantum leap, perhaps as the result of a genetic mutation, as posited within the minimalist paradigm by Berwick & Chomsky [6,7]? Another important issue is that of unidirectionality: assuming gradualness, was the march from simplicity to complexity an inexorable monotonic process or were there ups and downs along the route—as indeed can be observed in well-attested cases of simplification in recent linguistic history, such as, for example, those argued by McWhorter [8,9] and others to be associated with language contact and creolization?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tense–aspect–mood marking, language-family size and the evolution of predication

Gil

2021

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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This paper proposes a Complexity Covariance Hypothesis, whereby linguistic complexity covaries with cultural and socio-political complexity, and argues for an Evolutionary Inference Principle, in accordance with which, in domains where linguistic complexity correlates positively with cultural/socio-political complexity, simpler linguistic structures are evolutionarily prior to their more complex counterparts. Applying this methodology in a case study, the covariance of linguistic and cultural/socio-political complexity is examined by means of a cross-linguistic survey of tense–aspect–mood (TAM) marking in a worldwide sample of 868 languages. A novel empirical finding emerges: all else being equal, languages from small language families tend to have optional TAM marking, while languages from large language families are more likely to exhibit obligatory TAM marking. Since optional TAM marking is simpler than obligatory TAM marking, it can, therefore, be inferred that optional TAM marking is evolutionarily prior to obligatory TAM marking: a living fossil. In conclusion, it is argued that the presence of obligatory TAM marking, correlated with the more highly grammaticalized expression of thematic-role assignment, is a reflection of a deeper property of grammatical organization, namely, the grammaticalization of predication. Thus, it is suggested that the development of agriculture and resulting demographic expansions, resulting in the emergence of large language families, are a driving force in the evolution of predication in human language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reconstructing prehistoric languages’.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tense–aspect–mood marking, language-family size and the evolution of predication

Gil

2021

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…The interest in human language acquisition skyrocketed following Charles Darwin publication of "On the origin of species" in 1859 3 . In modern times, the two opposing scenarios of human language evolution are captured by the saltationist hypothesis of an abrupt step-like transition from non-recursive to recursive language around 100,000 years ago (ya) [4][5][6][7] and the gradualist scenario of much slower acquisition of grammatical and syntactic abilities over several million years [8][9][10][11] . The former hypothesis suggests a single uniquely human neurological mechanism for recursive language called by Chomsky and co-authors "recursive mental operations" and "the faculty of language in the narrow sense (FLN)" 12 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human language evolution: clustering of fifteen language comprehension abilities in 55558 individuals suggests three-step-wise language comprehension acquisition

Vyshedskiy

Venkatesh²,

Khokhlovich³

2023

Preprint

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There is an opposition between saltationist and gradualist hypotheses of human language comprehension evolution. The saltationist hypothesis argues for an abrupt step-like transition from non-recursive to recursive language sometime around 100,000 years ago. The gradualist scenario conjectures a much slower acquisition of grammatical and syntactic abilities over several million years. The former hypothesis expects a uniquely-human neurological mechanism made possible by a single mutation that resulted in simultaneous acquisition of a whole range of uniquely-human linguistic abilities, while the latter believes that many different mutations enabled various uniquely human neurological mechanisms that underlie human linguistic abilities. Studying co-acquisition of various linguistic abilities in modern humans can help resolve the two competing scenarios. The saltationist single-neurological-mechanism hypothesis predicts a two-cluster solution (one cluster of individuals who acquired that mechanism and another cluster of individuals who did not), while the gradualist scenario predicts the solution with many smaller clusters. Accordingly, we investigated co-acquisition of fifteen language comprehension abilities in 55,558 individuals using data-driven clustering analysis. Multiple clustering methods resulted in a robust three-cluster solution suggesting a three-step-wise language comprehension acquisition.

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Gradualist Approaches to Language Evolution

Cited by 2 publications

References 58 publications

Tense–aspect–mood marking, language-family size and the evolution of predication

Tense–aspect–mood marking, language-family size and the evolution of predication

Human language evolution: clustering of fifteen language comprehension abilities in 55558 individuals suggests three-step-wise language comprehension acquisition

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