On the Evolving Biology of Language

Frontiers in Psychology

Dieter G. Hillert¹ 

关键词: Homo erectus;    ARHGAP11B;    SRGAP2;    cultural evolution;    biological disposition;    brain development;    language evolution;    Neanderthals;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01796

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Some language scientists defend an anti-Darwin account and believe in the saltational evolution of modern language. They emphasize that the language faculty emerged by a sudden mutation in the last 50–100 ky (e.g., Klein, 2000; Chomsky, 2012, 2015; Berwick et al., 2013). In contrast, others claim that modern language is the product of a gradual co-evolution of neurobiological and cultural-linguistic conditions, which took place since genus Pan was separated for good from the hominin lineage about 4–6 mya (e.g., Pinker and Bloom, 1990; Pinker, 1994; Deacon, 1997; Dor and Jablonka, 2001; Falk, 2004; Enfield and Levinson, 2006; Levinson and Jaisson, 2006; Christiansen and Chater, 2008; Atkinson, 2011; Dunn et al., 2011; Dediu and Levinson, 2014). New genetic evidence and their interpretation in context of fossil and artifact discoveries shed however light on this controversy. The data indicate that pre-modern language might have been already spoken by Homo erectus. Moreover, we conclude that the sister species of modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans, may have used language much like modern humans do (e.g., Dediu and Levinson, 2013).

【 授权许可】

CC BY