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12 - Language evolution

from Part II - Process and formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2014

By
Stephen C. Levinson
Edited by
N. J. Enfield ,
Paul Kockelman  and
Jack Sidnell
N. J. Enfield
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute
Paul Kockelman
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Jack Sidnell
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

The subject of language evolution has experienced a boom in international conferences monographs, textbooks, and learned papers. This chapter covers two subjects that many would consider essentially unrelated: the evolution of the underlying biology that makes language possible on the one hand, and the processes underlying language change and diversification on the other. The chapter considers the range of new data that gives insights into the time course of the biological evolution of language capacities. It turns to cultural evolution and introduces the new methods that are revolutionizing this area. The chapter also considers the evidence for ongoing relations between biological and cultural evolution. Ongoing interactions between genes and spoken languages are less visible, but almost certainly in play. It has been shown that even slight biological or cognitive biases can become amplified through cultural transmission.

Keywords

language functionsocial interactiongrammaticizationfunctional linguisticsconstituent linguisticsinteractional functions
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology , pp. 309 - 324
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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