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Darwinian perspectives on the evolution of human languages
Mark Pagel1,2
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6UR, UK. m.pagel@reading.ac.uk.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|July 3, 2016
Summary
Human languages evolve like biological species through descent with modification. Evolutionary biology methods reveal language evolution, ancestral languages, and historical events.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics, Evolutionary Biology, Computational Phylogenetics
Background:
- Human languages undergo gradual changes over time, a process termed 'descent with modification'.
- This linguistic evolution shares striking parallels with biological species evolution, suggesting a Darwinian framework for understanding language change.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the application of evolutionary biology principles and statistical methods to the study of human language evolution.
- To investigate new opportunities in computational phylogenetics for reconstructing language family trees and understanding linguistic trait evolution.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing statistical methods and phylogenetic inference techniques adapted from evolutionary biology.
- Analyzing linguistic data to model processes of language change over extended historical periods.
Main Results:
- Successful statistical inference of phylogenetic trees representing language relationships.
- Demonstrated ability to study the evolution of linguistic traits across millennia.
- Reconstruction of ancestral proto-languages and dating of historical events using language change patterns.
Conclusions:
- A Darwinian perspective, augmented by evolutionary biology's statistical toolkit, offers powerful new avenues for linguistic research.
- This interdisciplinary approach enables deeper insights into language origins, diversification, and historical reconstruction.
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