2024-03-28T17:43:30Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1517952018-10-03T10:00:28Zcom_10261_9676com_10261_8col_10261_9677
Human language is a culturally evolving system
Steels, Luc
European Commission
Evolutionary linguistics
Fluid construction grammar
Emergence of grammar
It is well accepted that languages change rapidly in a process of cultural evolution. But some animal communication systems, in particular bird song, also exhibit cultural change. So where exactly is the difference? This article argues that the main selectionist pressure on human languages is not biological—that is, related to survival and fecundity—but instead is linked to producing enough expressive power for the needs of the community, maximizing communicative success, and reducing cognitive effort. The key question to be answered by an “evolutionary linguistics” approach to language is, What are the causal mechanisms sustaining an evolutionary dynamic based on these selection criteria? In other words, what cognitive mechanisms and social interaction patterns are needed, and how do they allow a language to emerge and remain shared, despite profound variation and never-ending change?
2017-06-21T11:39:06Z
2017-06-21T11:39:06Z
2017-02
artículo
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 24(1): 190–193 (2017)
1069-9384
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/151795
10.3758/s13423-016-1086-6
1531-5320
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
eng
http://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1086-6
Sí
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/308943
closedAccess
Springer