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Language Evolution: Why Hockett's Design Features are a Non-Starter.

Sławomir Wacewicz1, Przemysław Żywiczyński1

  • 1Center for Language Evolution Studies (CLES); Department of English, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bojarskiego 1, Toruń, 87-100 Poland.

Biosemiotics
|August 29, 2015
PubMed
Summary

Charles Hockett's design features, while influential, are incompatible with modern language evolution research. His framework, focusing on language as a product, limits its use in understanding the faculty of language.

Keywords:
Animal communicationBiolinguisticsDisplacementEvolutionary linguisticsLanguage origins

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Area of Science:

  • Linguistics
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Charles Hockett's design features framework (1950s-1960s) is a key reference for comparing animal communication and human language.
  • Hockett's theoretical perspective is largely misaligned with contemporary language evolution research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically evaluate the utility of Hockett's design features as a theoretical framework for evolutionary linguistics.
  • To highlight the limitations of Hockett's approach, particularly its focus on language as a product rather than a faculty.
  • To propose an alternative perspective more aligned with modern research on the faculty of language.

Main Methods:

  • Reconstruction of Hockett's views on design features.
  • Critique of Hockett's framework focusing on 'means vs. content' and 'code vs. cognitive abilities'.
  • Empirical illustration of issues using arbitrariness, semanticity, cultural transmission, and displacement.

Main Results:

  • Hockett's classificatory system has limited theoretical value for evolutionary linguistics.
  • The framework's focus on the 'product' of language neglects the 'faculty of language' (sensorimotor, cognitive, social abilities).
  • Specific features like arbitrariness, cultural transmission, and displacement reveal limitations when viewed through Hockett's lens.

Conclusions:

  • A shift in perspective from language as a product to language as a faculty is necessary for evolutionary linguistics.
  • Hockett's design features are insufficient as a sole theoretical basis for understanding language evolution.
  • Modern research benefits from focusing on the cognitive and biological underpinnings of language acquisition and use.