The Evolution of Language

Preface......Page 6
Panel of Reviewers......Page 8
Contents......Page 10
Part I:Papers......Page 20
2. Grammaticalization beyond Glossogenesis......Page 22
2.1. The latent generalivisl premise......Page 23
2.2. Ontological dissociation: Reducing and Conserving......Page 24
Acknowledgments......Page 27
References......Page 28
1. Introduction......Page 30
2. The Language of Myth......Page 31
3. Myth in Mythological Context......Page 32
4.2. Social Contexts in which Myths are Told......Page 34
5. Myth in Wodd Context......Page 35
6. Conclusion......Page 36
References......Page 37
1. Introduction......Page 38
2. Symmetrical artefacts: beads and handaxes......Page 39
4. Alikeness and categories......Page 40
6. Dating......Page 41
7. Discussion......Page 42
Acknowledgments......Page 43
References......Page 44
1. Introduction......Page 45
2. The Diachronic Change from Latin to the Romance Languages......Page 46
3. Production Constraints as a Source of Language Change......Page 47
4. Meeting the Needs of Adult L2 Learners of Latin......Page 49
5. Possible Effects of L2 Acquisition beyond the Romance Languages......Page 50
6. Conclusion......Page 51
References......Page 52
Invariants and Variation in Biology and Language Evolution Robert C. Berwick......Page 53
2. Language as a neurological side-effect......Page 61
3. A sign is born......Page 62
4. The epigenetic factor: self-organization due to building materials......Page 64
4.1. Contrastive dispersion o!percepts and combinatorial phonology......Page 65
4.3. Self-organization and syntax......Page 66
References......Page 67
1. Introduction......Page 69
2. Thesis and Key Definitions......Page 70
3. Cultural Accumulation Cannot Require Accumulated Culture......Page 71
4. Determinants of Culture's Size and Extent......Page 72
5. Why Humans are Special......Page 74
References......Page 75
1. Introduction......Page 77
2. Iterated Learning with Bayesian Agents......Page 79
3. Learning Distributions over Words......Page 80
4. Learning Distributions over Languages......Page 81
4.2. Simulations......Page 82
References......Page 84
1. Linguistic "fossils"......Page 85
2. A closer look at Subject-Verb structures......Page 86
3. Verb-Subject structures......Page 87
4. Some conclusions......Page 90
References......Page 91
1. Numerosity......Page 93
1.2 Two Core Systems of Numerosity......Page 94
1.3 Neurological Substrate for Numerosity......Page 95
1.4 Numerosity and Metaphors......Page 96
3. Conclusions......Page 98
References......Page 100
1. Introduction......Page 102
2. The Model......Page 103
3.1. Stage 1......Page 105
3.2. Stage 2......Page 107
Acknowledgments......Page 108
References......Page 109
1. Introduction......Page 110
3.1 Study site......Page 111
3.3 Method......Page 112
4.2 Amplitude/frequency......Page 113
4.3 Rhythm......Page 114
5. Discussion......Page 115
References......Page 116
1. Theoretical Context......Page 118
2. Can Costly Signalling Theory Account for Human Language?......Page 119
3. Unexpectedness in Language......Page 120
4. Unexpectedness and Conversational Interest......Page 122
5. Discussion......Page 123
References......Page 124
1.1. Danvin and Broca......Page 126
2.1. Chomskian Universal Grammar and natural selection......Page 127
2.2. There is no needfor a minor mutation for Merge or recursion......Page 128
3.1. Language is a defining characteristic of Homo sapiens.......Page 129
3.3. Coevolution of language and the brain......Page 130
4. FOXP2 and other genes and mutations relating to language......Page 131
5. An Evolutionary timeline for language......Page 132
References......Page 133
1. Introduction......Page 135
2. Language and Experience: A Theory of Language as a Social Technology......Page 136
4. The History of Language: Th ree Stages of Technological Innovation......Page 138
References......Page 140
1. Introduction......Page 141
2. Methods......Page 142
3. Results and discussion......Page 144
References......Page 146
1.1. A conceptual conundrum......Page 148
2.1. The adaptationist account......Page 149
2.2. rhe informational account......Page 151
3.1. Physiological responses or cognitive creatures?......Page 152
4. Nonhuman primate communication and the evolution of language......Page 153
References......Page 154
A Molecular Genetic Framework for Testing Hypotheses about Language Evolution W. Tecumseh Fitch, Michael A. Arbib, Merlin Donald......Page 156
1.2. FoxP2 as thefirst of many language-related genes......Page 157
1.3. Genetic Timing of Events in our Evolutionary Past......Page 158
2. Models of Language Evolution: Many Flavors of "Protolanguage"......Page 159
3. Explicit Predictions of Four Models of Protolanguage......Page 160
4. Discussion: Future Candidate Genes......Page 161
References......Page 162
1. Introduction......Page 164
2.2. Morphology......Page 165
2.3. Historical development of aspect......Page 166
3.1. Language Game for Aspect......Page 167
3.2. Cognitive Mechanisms......Page 168
3.3. Results......Page 169
4. Conclusion and Future Work......Page 170
References......Page 171
1.1. Introduction......Page 172
1.2. What monkeys and apes can tell us.......Page 174
1.4 All signs lead to foraging......Page 175
References......Page 177
1. Introduction......Page 179
2. The Category Game......Page 180
3. The Representative Distribution of Social Popularities......Page 182
4. The Simulation Results......Page 183
References......Page 185
1. Introduction......Page 187
2. The Lexicon-Syntax Coevolution Model......Page 188
3. The Language Acquisition Framework......Page 189
4. The Simulation Results......Page 191
5. Conclusions......Page 193
References......Page 194
1. Introduction......Page 195
2.1. The unit heuristic......Page 197
2.2. The level heuristic......Page 198
2.3. The mechanism heuristic......Page 200
References......Page 202
1. Introduction......Page 203
2. Summary of Model and Findings from Simulation......Page 204
3. Creativity througb Linguistic Analogy......Page 206
4. A Hypothesis about Origin and Evolution of Language......Page 208
References......Page 210
1. Introduction......Page 211
2. The Price equation......Page 213
3. Conclusion......Page 214
References......Page 215
1. Introduction......Page 217
2. Language and Navigation......Page 218
3. Language and Kin Selection......Page 221
References......Page 223
1. Introduction......Page 225
2. Word learning Experiments with Children: Sound Symbolic Advantage......Page 226
3. Sound Symbolic Facilitation as the Vestige of Sound Symbolic Protolanguage......Page 228
4. Advantages of Sound Symbolic Protolanguage Hypothesis......Page 229
7. Conclusion......Page 230
References......Page 231
1. An optimistic idea abont how to study language evolution......Page 233
2. Outline of a sensorimotor model of a reach-to-grasp action......Page 235
3. Outline of a syntactic model of transitive sentences......Page 237
4. A sensorimotor interpretation of LF structure......Page 238
References......Page 240
1. Introduction......Page 241
2.2. Robust models......Page 243
2.3. Rich semantics......Page 244
2.4. A driving force for language evolution......Page 245
2.5. Discussion......Page 246
References......Page 247
1. Introduction 1......Page 249
2. Ten arguments for the evolutionary primacy of linguistic arguments over linguistic predicates......Page 250
References......Page 254
1. Introduction......Page 257
2. The Naming Game in an Experimental Perspective......Page 258
3. A Network Model of Alignment in Communication......Page 259
3.1. Quantifying Dialog Lexica......Page 260
4. Experimentation......Page 261
References......Page 263
1. Introduction......Page 265
2.2. Modality......Page 266
3.3. Definite Article......Page 267
5. Questions and Negations......Page 268
6. Complex Sentences......Page 269
8. Conclusion......Page 271
References......Page 272
The Silence of the Stones: On the Archaeological Record for (Neandertal) Language Wi! Roebroeks......Page 273
References......Page 278
1. Introduction......Page 282
2. Methods......Page 283
2.1. Formulas......Page 284
3.1. Experiment One......Page 286
3.2. Experiment Two......Page 287
4. Conclusions......Page 288
References......Page 289
1. The relationship between language and the human auditory cortex......Page 290
2. Hypothesis: Cortical and white matter growth and duration of growth are critical to language perception......Page 291
3. Genetic basis of cortical and white matter maturation compared to genetic basis of language capabilities......Page 293
5. Hypothesis: The source of universal grammar could be "compatibility with the experiential universe" instead of genes......Page 294
References......Page 296
1. Introduction......Page 298
2. Motion Event Expressions in an Emerging Sign Language......Page 300
3. Tbe Missing Step: Homesign......Page 302
4. Conclusion......Page 305
References......Page 306
1. Introduction......Page 308
2. Method......Page 309
3.1. Reproduction Fidelity......Page 311
3.2. RegularisatiOll......Page 312
Acknowledgements......Page 314
References......Page 315
1. Introduction......Page 316
2. Flexible Representation of Conceptual Structure with IRL......Page 317
3. Encoding Conceptual Structure into Syntactic Structure using FCG......Page 319
4. Experimental Setup......Page 320
5. Experimental Results I......Page 321
6. Experimental Results n......Page 322
References......Page 323
1. Is linguistic diversity all that's out there?......Page 324
2. Is there a language faculty?......Page 325
3. Is there a single parsing system?......Page 327
4. A rapprochement? Bio-linguistic perspective vs. bio-cultural hybrid......Page 330
References......Page 331
1. Introduction......Page 332
2.1. Participants......Page 333
2.2. Materials......Page 334
2.3. Data analysis......Page 335
2.5. Results and discussion......Page 336
Acknowledgments......Page 338
References......Page 339
1. A Trade off......Page 340
3. Input Reduction......Page 341
4. Perfect Language......Page 345
References......Page 347
The Predicability Tree. How, and Why? Robert van Rooij......Page 12
1. Introduction......Page 348
2. Ontological categories......Page 349
3. Why hierarchical structure?......Page 351
References......Page 353
1. Introduction......Page 355
2. A Case Study of Spanish Pronoun Evolution......Page 356
3.1. Language System......Page 357
3.2. Language Strategies......Page 359
4. Experimental results and discussion......Page 360
5. Conclusions......Page 361
References......Page 362
1. Introduction......Page 363
2. Learning and using Causal Co-occurrences......Page 364
3. Constructional dependencies......Page 365
4. Discussion and conclusion......Page 369
References......Page 370
2. The Uniformitarian Principle and some associated problems......Page 371
3. The rate of cultural and linguistic change......Page 373
5. A thought experiment on early language change......Page 375
6. Conclusions......Page 376
References......Page 377
Part II:Abstracts......Page 380
What is Special About the Language Faculty, and How Did It Get That Way? Stephen R. Anderson......Page 382
References......Page 383
On the Origin of Universal Categorization Patterns: An In-Silica Experiment Andrea Baronchelli, Tao Gong, Vittorio Loreto, Andrea Puglisi......Page 384
References......Page 385
Coordination of Language Strategies based on Communicative Fitness Joris Bleys......Page 386
References......Page 387
Samplers, Maximisers and the Cultural Evolutionary Dynamics of Language Richard A. Blythe......Page 388
References......Page 389
Acoustic Variability in Nonhuman Primates: Individuality and Social Context Helene Bouchet, Catherine Blois-Heulin, Alban Lemasson......Page 390
Contexts of Language Diversity Ingar Brinck......Page 392
References......Page 393
Coordinated Multi-Modal Expression and Embodied Meaning in the Emergence of Symbolic Communication J. Erin Brown......Page 394
References......Page 395
Do Ape Gestures Have Specific Meanings? Shifting the Focus from Flexibility to Semanticity Erica A. Cartmill, Richard W. Byrne......Page 396
References......Page 397
Brains, Genes and Language Evolution Morten H. Christiansen......Page 398
References......Page 399
Could Evo-devo Save Chomsky from the Evolutionary Paradox? Hangjun Chu......Page 400
Acknowledgements......Page 401
Gestural Communication in Human Children: Ontogenetic Perspective in Favour of the Gestural Hypothesis of Language Origin Helene Cochet, Jacques Vauclair......Page 402
The Path from Point A to Point B: How Gestures Became Language in Nicaraguan Signing Marie Coppola, Ann Senghas......Page 404
The Emergence of Structure from Sequence Memory Constraints in Cultural Transmission Hannah Cornish, Morten H. Christiansen, Simon Kirby......Page 406
References......Page 407
Cross-modality: Reviving Iconicity in the Evolution of Language Christine Cuskley, Simon Kirby, Julia Simner......Page 408
References......Page 409
Squiggle: Large-Scale Social Emergence of Simple Symbols Rick Dale, Gary Lupyan......Page 410
References......Page 411
Using Software Agents to Investigate the Interactive Origins of Communication Systems Pieter de Bie, Thomas Scott-Phillips, Simon Kirby, Bart Verheij......Page 412
References......Page 413
2. The experiment......Page 414
References......Page 415
The Influence of Language on Concept Formation in Artificial Agents Joachim de Greeff, Frederic Delaunay, Tony Belpaeme......Page 416
References......Page 417
1. Abstract......Page 418
From Hand to Mouth: An Experimental Simulation of Language Origin Nicolas Fay, Stephanie Lim......Page 420
References......Page 421
Does Input Matter?: Gesture and Homesign in Nicaragua, China, Turkey, and the USA Molly Flaherty, Susan Goldin-Meadow......Page 422
Acknowledgements......Page 423
Deception, Tells, and the Evolution of Combinatorial Communication Jacob G. Foster, Matthew Slayton......Page 424
References......Page 425
2. Domains of communication......Page 426
References......Page 428
Does Deixis Precede Vocabulary Development in Language-Trained Apes? Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, Yunping Feng, Patricia M. Greenfield, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Heidi Lyn, Christina Khou......Page 430
References......Page 431
Why Ape-Human Similarities and Learning Mechanisms Are Important: A Developmental and Cladistic Approach to the Evolution of Language Patricia M. Greenfield......Page 432
Evolving Linguistic Competence in the Absence of Performance Marc D. Hauser......Page 435
Simulating Creole and Dialect Formation Zena Hira, Mark Bartlett......Page 438
References......Page 439
Ecological and Sexual Explanations for Larynx Lowering Jean-Marie Hombert......Page 440
References......Page 441
Observing the Birth of Phonology Assaf Israel, Wendy Sandler......Page 442
References......Page 443
Relaxation of Selection Can Lead to Signal Variations: An Example in Birdsong Hiroko Kagawa, Hiroko Yamada, Ruey-Singh Lin, Kazuo Okanoya......Page 444
References......Page 445
The Co-Involvement of Hands and Mouth in Utterance Construction: Implications for Language Origins Theories. Adam Kendon......Page 446
References......Page 447
1. Iconic Gestures and Sound Symbolic Words: Motivated Link between Form and Meaning......Page 448
References......Page 449
Cooperative Breeding Models: Implications for the Evolution of Language Chris Knight, Camilla Power......Page 450
References......Page 451
Contributions of Aphasiology to Language Evolution Research Andreas Kyriacou, Sverker Johansson......Page 452
References......Page 453
How Important Are Words for Conceptual Coordination? Cyprian Laskowski, Martin Pickering......Page 454
References......Page 455
Vocal Abilities in a Group of Nonhuman Primates Alban Lemasson, Klaus Zuberbuhler......Page 456
References......Page 457
Vocal Deception From a Hunter-Gatherer Perspective Jerome Lewis, Chris Knight......Page 458
References......Page 459
The Emergence Of Self-Organization In Language: Evidence From English Word Formation Mark Lindsay, Mark Aronoff......Page 460
Beyond Communication: Language Modulates Visual Processing Gary Lupyan......Page 462
Declaratives in Apes: Impact of Environment on Purely Infomative Communications Heidi Lyn, Patricia M Greenfield, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Jamie Russell, Kristen Gillespe-Lynch, William Hopkins......Page 464
Acknowledgements......Page 465
2. Differing Mechanisms of Inheritance and Selection......Page 466
References......Page 467
3D-Morphometric and Acoustic Analysis of Chimpanzee and Human Vocal Tracts, and Their Use in the Reconstruction of Neanderthal Vocal Tracts and Their Acoustic Potential Sandra Martelli, Antoine Serrurier, Anna Barney, James Steele......Page 468
References......Page 469
The Cultural Evolution of Language in a World of Continuous Meanings Cristina Matthews, Simon Kirby, Hannah Cornish......Page 470
References......Page 471
Investigation of Gestural vs Vocal Origins of Language in Nonhuman Primates: Distinguishing Comprehension and Production of Signals Adrien Meguerditchian, Jacques Vauclair......Page 472
References......Page 473
The Interaction of Animacy and Word Order in Human Languages: A Study of Strategies in a Novel Communication Task Irit Meir, Adi LifShitz, Deniz Ilkbasaran, Carol Padden......Page 474
On the Track of the Origin of Language: A Comparative Study Quantifying Hand Preference in Object ManipUlation and Gestural Communication in Non Human Primates Helene Meunier, Jacques Vauclair......Page 476
References......Page 477
A Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Study of Brain Lateralisation in Stone Tool Making and Language Georg Meyer, Sophie Wuerger, Natalie Uomini......Page 478
References......Page 479
The Evolution oflnformation Structure Vanessa Micelli......Page 480
References......Page 481
A Missing Link in the Cultural Evolution of Language: Connecting Sequential Learning and Language Empirically Jennifer Misyak, Morten H. Christiansen, J. Bruce Tomblin......Page 482
References......Page 483
Balancing Arbitrariness and Systematicity in Language Evolution Padraic Monaghan, Morten H. Christiansen, Stanka Fitneva......Page 484
References......Page 485
Speaker-Independent Perception of Human Speech by Zebra Finches Verena R. Ohms, Arike Gill, Caroline A.A. van Heijningen, Gabriel J.L. Beckers, Carel ten Cate......Page 486
References......Page 487
References......Page 488
Grooming Gestures of Chimpanzees in the Wild: First Insights Into Meaning and Function Simone Pika, Chris Knight......Page 490
References:......Page 491
The Relevance ofthe Developmental Stress Hypothesis to the Evolution of Language Anne Pritchard......Page 492
References......Page 493
Co-Evolution of Language and Social Network Structure through Cultural Transmission Justin Quillinan, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith......Page 494
References......Page 495
The Origins of Sociolinguistic Marking and its Role in Language Divergence: an Experimental Study Gareth Roberts......Page 496
References......Page 497
Considering Language Evolution from Birdsong Development Kazutoshi Sasahara, Miki Takahasi, Kenta Suzuki, Olga Feher, Ofer Tchernichovski, Kazuo Okanoya......Page 498
References......Page 499
1. Situated grammar learning from partially word-detected string......Page 500
References......Page 501
Why Do Wild Chimpanzees Produce Food-Associated Calls: A Case of Vocal Grooming? Anne Schel, Klaus Zuberbiihler, Katie E. Slocombe......Page 502
References......Page 503
The Importance of Exploring Non-Linguistic Functions of Human Brain Language Areas for Explaining Language Evolution P. Thomas Schoenemann......Page 504
References......Page 505
Language Evolution: The View from Adult Second Language Learners Marieke Schouwstra......Page 506
References......Page 507
The Evolution of Communication and Relevance Thomas Scoff-Phillips......Page 508
References......Page 509
2. Experiment......Page 510
Acknowledgements......Page 511
2. Method and results......Page 512
References......Page 513
Vocal Or Gestural? What Empirical Comparative Evidence Can and Cannot Currently Tell Us about Language Evolution Katie E. Slocombe, Bridget Waller, Katja Liebal......Page 514
References......Page 515
Regularisation of Unpredictable Variation Through Itertated Learning Kenny Smith, Elizabeth Wonnacott......Page 516
References......Page 517
Implausibly Cooperative Robots Meet Their Selfish Gene Counterparts Luc Steels, Chris Knight......Page 518
References......Page 519
Identifying Selective Pressures in Language Evolution: P61ya Urns and the Price Equation Monica Tamariz......Page 520
References......Page 521
What Are The Analogues of Genotype and Phenotype in the Cultural Evolution of Language? Monica Tamariz......Page 522
References......Page 523
2. Materials and Methods......Page 524
References......Page 525
Simple Rules Can Explain Discrimination of Putative Recursive Syntactic Structures by Songbirds: a Case Study on Zebra Finches Caroline A.A. van Heijningen, Jos de Visser, Willem Zuidema, Carel Ten Cate......Page 526
References......Page 527
The Critical Period and Preservation of Emerged Vowel Systems Tessa Verhoef, Bart de Boer......Page 528
References......Page 529
2. A simulation of socio-linguistic change......Page 530
References......Page 531
Lessons for Evolution from First Language Development Marilyn Vihman......Page 532
References......Page 533
The Relevance of Body Language to Evolution of Language Research Slawomir Wacewicz, Przemyslaw Zywiczynski......Page 534
References......Page 535
Vocal and Facial Productions in Nonhuman Primates: Do They Express Emotions or Language Related Treatments? Catherine Wallez, Jacques Vauclair......Page 536
References......Page 537
Language As Extended Phenotype? Dennis Waters......Page 538
References......Page 539
Reconsidering the Code Model of Communication for Simulations of Language Evolution Matthijs Westera......Page 540
References......Page 541
Cultural Evolution of Bird Song and Genetic Degradation of Learning Bias Hajime Yamauchi, Terrence W. Deacon, Kazuo Okanoya......Page 542
References......Page 543
Optimality and Teleomatic Causes in the Faculty of Language Hajime Yamauchi, Kazuo Okanoya......Page 544
References......Page 545
From Body to Mouth (and Body) Jordan Zlatev, Merlin Donald, Garan Sonesson......Page 546
References......Page 547
Author Index......Page 548