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Published on: April 19, 2017
Interactions between cultural, social and biological explanations for language evolution.
1ICREA, Institute for Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), PRBB, Dr. Aiguadar 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. steels@arti.vub.ac.be
Physics of Life Reviews
|November 29, 2011
Summary
This study discusses models for the cultural evolution of language, responding to commentaries. It addresses novel issues in social and biological evolution, expanding on the original review.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Evolutionary Biology
- Sociology
Background:
- The target article reviewed models for the cultural evolution of language.
- Commentaries on the target article have been published in this volume.
Purpose of the Study:
- To reply to commentaries on a review of language cultural evolution models.
- To address novel issues in social and biological evolution raised by the commentaries.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of cultural evolution models.
- Analysis of commentaries on the target article.
- Discussion of social and biological evolution concepts.
Main Results:
- Commentaries largely amplified positions from the target article.
- Novel issues in social and biological evolution were identified and discussed.
Conclusions:
- The cultural evolution of language is a complex field with interdisciplinary connections.
- Further research is warranted in social and biological evolution aspects related to language.
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