Evolution of language
Introduction
1. Evolution of language is the gradual change in human language over time. It involves the origin and divergence of languages and language families and can be considered analogous to biological evolution, although it does not necessarily occur through the same mechanisms.
2. Language allows us to share our thoughts, ideas, emotions, and intention with others. Over thousands of years, humans have developed a wide variety of systems to assign specific meaning to sounds, forming words and systems of grammar to create languages.
3. Although languages are defined by rules, they are by no means static and evolve over time. Some languages are incredibly old and have changed very little over time, such as modern Icelandic, which strongly resembles its parent, Old Norse. Other languages evolve rapidly by incorporating elements of other languages. Still, other languages die out due to political oppression or social assimilation.
4. Understanding the evolution of language requires evidence regarding origins and processes that led to change. In the last 40 years, there has been an explosion of research on this problem as well as a sense that considerable progress has been made. We argue instead that the richness of ideas is accompanied by a poverty of evidence, with essentially no explanation of how and why our linguistic computations and representations evolved. We show that, to date, (1) studies of nonhuman animals provide virtually no relevant parallels to human linguistic communication, and none to the underlying biological capacity; (2) the fossil and archaeological evidence does not inform our understanding of the computations and representations of our earliest ancestors, leaving details of origins and selective pressure unresolved; (3) our understanding of the genetics of language is so impoverished that there is little hope of connecting genes to linguistic processes any time soon; (4) all modeling attempts have made unfounded assumptions, and have provided no empirical tests, thus leaving any insights into language's origins unverifiable. Based on the current state of evidence, we submit that the most fundamental questions about the origins and evolution of our linguistic capacity remain as mysterious as ever, with considerable uncertainty about the discovery of either relevant or conclusive evidence that can adjudicate among the many open hypotheses [A1] (07 May 2014, a group of famous scientists from the USA and the UK).
Some facts:
language must have evolved between 100,000 to 50,000 years ago; some researchers date the evolving around 250,000 years ago. Language probably emerged to satisfy a need of interaction or to influence other individuals.
Pieces of evidence:
a) external – clues from outside human language
→ evolutionary theory, archaeology, anatomy and physiology, ethology, psychology, anthropology;
b) internal – information from languages itself
→ provided by linguistics
→ pidgins and creoles are valuable sources.
How did Language emerge?
(The most accredited theory is that of a ‘language bonfire’. After this theory, sparks of language have been flickering for a long time before language begun a fast evolution and then stabilized around 50,000 years ago).
How did language get started? Many support the gestural theory, which claims that sign language is the missing link between the primate communication and human language. These supporters emphasize four reasons: 1) the gestural origin of speech, 2) sign language is easier than speech, 3) the idea that gestures are universal, 4) neurological connection between speech and movements.
research study:
Evidence for universal grammar • Children follow consistent patterns of language development independent of culture;
Infant vocal development;
Animal language studies;
Cave and rock paintings;
Human language diversity;
Some questions from episode 452 of LEP [B1]:
How does a language evolve?
Are errors a part of that process?
Has your language, or English, changed much in the last 100, 200, 300 years?
Is your language, or English, getting worse than before?
Are standards of language declining?
Has a language ever totally broken down and died due to falling standards?
Why did Latin die out as a language?
How does Charles Darwin relate to language development?
What effect is technology having on our language?
Is it making us better or worse at communicating?
Are we better at communicating than we used to be?
Are we getting better at communicating? How do you even measure that?
Why does language change?
Language changes for several reasons.
I. First, it changes because the needs of its speakers change. New technologies, new products, and new experiences require new words to refer to them clearly and efficiently.
II. Another reason for change is that no two people have had exactly the same language experience. We all know a slightly different set of words and constructions, depending on our age, job, education level, region of the country, and so on. We pick up new words and phrases from all the different people we talk with, and these combine to make something new and unlike any other person's particular way of speaking. At the same time, various groups in society use language as a way of marking their group identity - showing who is and isn't a member of the group. Many of the changes that occur in language begin with teens and young adults: as young people interact with others their own age, their language grows to include words, phrases, and constructions that are different from those of the older generation. Some have a short life span (heard groovy lately?), but others stick around to affect the language as a whole.
III. We get new words from many different places. We borrow them from other languages (sushi, chutzpah), we create them by shortening longer words (gym from gymnasium) or by combining words (brunch from breakfast and lunch), and we make them out of proper names (Levis, Fahrenheit). Sometimes we even create a new word by being wrong about the analysis of an existing word.
IV. Word order also changes, though this process is much slower.
V. Finally, the sounds of a language change over time, too. About 500 years ago English began to undergo a major change in the way its vowels were pronounced [B2].
Technology and the English Language
With the rise of the internet, the English language became a crucial part of the spread of technology. Since the internet was invented in America, the vocabulary associated with technology was created and distributed in English. There were no other language alternatives when technology started booming. This greatly increased the reach of the English language when many other countries started incorporating technology into their culture [B6].
How Emojis Are Just the Next Stage of Language Evolution
It’s common for language sticklers to decry the proliferation of emojis as examples of language decline. But in reality, this trend towards using these graphics in our communications represents a new stage of language evolution.
Emojis have been unusually successful at penetrating language and becoming widely adopted by regular users.
What’s unique about our adoption of this new vocabulary of ideograms in the form of emojis is that they are not language-specific. In fact, if you received a missive from someone whose language you did not speak and which contained emojis, these would be the only elements of the text you would be able to understand.
Although no-one’s proposing that emojis replace current written language, they are an astonishingly successful addition to our language.
Humans have always made use of visual cues to communicate more successfully with one another. It seems the emoji is just the latest tool we have found to help us communicate effectively with one another [B4].
This is a key point about language use: rarely is natural language ever limited to speech alone. When we are speaking, we constantly use gestures to illustrate what we mean. For this reason, linguists say that language is “multi-modal”. Writing takes away that extra non-verbal information, but emoji may allow us to re-incorporate it into our text.
To many, emojis are an exciting evolution of the way we communicate; to others, they are linguistic Armageddon [B5].
Why it’s time to stop worrying about the decline of the English language
People often complain that English is deteriorating under the influence of new technology, adolescent fads and loose grammar. Why does this nonsensical belief persist?
“There is a worrying trend of adults mimicking teen-speak. They are using slang words and ignoring grammar,” Marie Clair, of the Plain English Campaign, told the Daily Mail. “Their language is deteriorating. They are lowering the bar. Our language is flying off at all tangents, without the anchor of a solid foundation.”
The Queen’s English Society, a British organisation, has long been fighting to prevent this decline. Although it is at pains to point out that it does not believe language can be preserved unchanged, it worries that communication is at risk of becoming far less effective. “Some changes would be wholly unacceptable, as they would cause confusion and the language would lose shades of meaning,” the society says on its website.
There is no such thing as linguistic decline, so far as the expressive capacity of the spoken or written word is concerned. We need not fear a breakdown in communication. Our language will always be as flexible and sophisticated as it has been up to now. Those who warn about the deterioration of English haven’t learned about the history of the language, and don’t understand the nature of their own complaints – which are simply statements of preference for the way of doing things they have become used to. The erosion of language to the point that “ultimately, no doubt, we shall communicate with a series of grunts” (Humphrys again) will not, cannot, happen. The clearest evidence for this is that warnings about the deterioration of English have been around for a very long time [B3].
This is what the author Douglas Adams had to say about technology. Adapted slightly, it could apply to language, too:
– Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
– Anything that’s invented between when you’re 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary.
– Anything invented after you’re 35 is against the natural order of things.
Links to study:
Group A (serious guys):
[A1] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00401/full
http://genlingnw.ru/board/attachments/fitch_evolution.pdf
https://www.sas.upenn.edu/language-evolution/what-is.html
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10539-005-5597-1
references
Group B (just for fun):
[B1] https://teacherluke.co.uk/2017/05/24/452-a-conversation-about-language-with-amber-paul/
[B2] https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/english-changing
[B4] https://www.translatemedia.com/translation-blog/emojis-just-next-stage-language-evolution/
[B5] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20151012-will-emoji-become-a-new-language
[B6] https://www.siliconrepublic.com/life/language-change-evolution-technology
notes
Evolution of the English alphabet:
Language tree:
Just for fun: Language Evolution Simulation
https://fatiherikli.github.io/language-evolution-simulation/
An agent-based model (ABM) is a class of computational models for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents (both individual or collective entities such as organizations or groups) with a view to assessing their effects on the system as a whole. It combines elements of game theory, complex systems, emergence, computational sociology, multi-agent systems, and evolutionary programming.