Proto-Language as a Structurer and Enhancer of Perception

Abstract

The evolution of the capacity for language remains a contested and important subject. Newer approaches consider language evolution to be a protracted and mosaic process, with selection operating in different contexts through multiple drivers. This research examines two potential factors in language evolution: cognitive-structuring functions of language, and non-arbitrariness (iconicity). It is based on the hypothesis that language exerts powerful facilitative effects on cognition, which may provide an additional adaptive advantage to early proto-language. Iconicity meanwhile may offer a foothold for the emergence of semantics by providing an innate link between sound and meaning. This study investigated both aspects through an online game in which participants had to categorise novel species of aliens. Results provided evidence for both cognitive structuring due to language, and iconicity, adding credence to the suggestion that both may have played important roles in language evolution.