| Title: | Recent theories on the evolution of language |
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| Authors: | ID Guberinič, Tina (Author)
ID Jutronić, Dunja (Mentor) More about this mentor...  |
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| Files: |  UNI_Guberinic_Tina_2009.pdf (539,99 KB)
MD5: F3436CD8BA07F0C468518874EEC11002
PID: 20.500.12556/dkum/f7446a0e-868c-4a90-8be2-b8750ac96127
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| Language: | English |
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| Work type: | Undergraduate thesis |
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| Organization: | FF - Faculty of Arts
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| Abstract: | When dealing with the evolution of language one comes across some intriguing questions, and the answers seem to be very hard to state. There is no consensus of what language actually is. It serves various social purposes, such as learning and social contacts. Thus it is very important phenomenon in human society. Language is constantly changing and sometimes these changes are very sudden. Therefore it is difficult (if not nearly impossible) to trace back its evolution. However this was the topic of my research, even though it is still impracticable to confirm the exact timing of its emergence.
As mentioned in one of the previous chapters, communication is not unique to humans. In contrary, in nature we find numerous kinds of communication systems. Every animal species on the planet possesses some way of communication. But human language is much more complex than communication of any other animal species. Humans can form unlimited number of utterances out of limited number of sounds. This seems to be matchless to any other way of communication in nature. Another important fact is, that animals are believed to react instinctively, and therefore predictably, but most human behaviour (including language) is under the voluntary control.
Human language is creative and unpredictable. So it is assumed that only humans posses language. There are many different scenarios why humans started to speak. It is clear that human language plays a major part in different aspects of our lives. Emergence of language has brought notable advantage to our species. Our ancestors were able to coordinate hunting and food gathering better. Through language, generations exchanged valuable information and knowledge. Better speakers had better chance to mate, and therefore had more offspring. In addition, communication is according to some authors, comparable to social grooming phenomenon, which is found in chimpanzees, humans use language the same way that chimpanzees use grooming. Chimpanzees groom each other to preserve friendships. People spend vast amount of time communicating with others for social reasons.
But where did our language came from? Darwin assumed, that language is prewired in human brains, similarly to animal instincts, which respond to certain stimuli from the environment. Some authors including Pinker and Bloom developed a theory compatible with the Darwinian theory of natural selection. Recent researches have proved evidence that some aspects of language may have evolved by natural selection. However, certain neurological processes which are important for developing of language may be derived from structures that are present also in non-human primates. Consequently, parts of language were exapted from cognitive structures that our ancestors used for hunting, food gathering, tool making, learning and various other activities. According to these recent theories, the answer how language evolved, lies somewhere in between of selectionists` view, which sees language purely as the result of natural selection and exaptationists` view, which sees language as a by-product of some other cognitive capacities. |
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| Keywords: | evolucija, naravna selekcija, adaptacija, eksaptacija, socialna inteligenca, kulturna evolucija |
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| Place of publishing: | Maribor |
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| Publisher: | [T. Guberinič] |
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| Year of publishing: | 2009 |
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| PID: | 20.500.12556/DKUM-10323 |
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| UDC: | 811.111(043.2) |
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| COBISS.SI-ID: | 17083144 |
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| NUK URN: | URN:SI:UM:DK:NY9ZOCIO |
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| Publication date in DKUM: | 29.08.2009 |
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| Views: | 3231 |
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| Downloads: | 206 |
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| Metadata: |    |
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| Categories: | FF
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