Language evolution as cultural evolution: how language is shaped by the brain

Language evolution as cultural evolution: how language is shaped by the brain
Nick Chater & Morten H. Christiansen
Article first published online: 28 JUN 2010
DOI: 10.1002/wcs.85
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Issue
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science
Volume 1, Issue 5, pages 623–628, September/October 2010
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Publication History
Issue published online: 27 JUL 2010
Article first published online: 28 JUN 2010
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Abstract
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AbstractJump to…Top of pageAbstractTHE LOGICAL PROBLEM OF LANGUAGE EVOLUTIONLANGUAGE AS SHAPED BY THE BRAINLANGUAGE ACQUISITION MEETS LANGUAGE EVOLUTIONCONCLUSIONREFERENCES
Top of page
Abstract
THE LOGICAL PROBLEM OF LANGUAGE EVOLUTION
LANGUAGE AS SHAPED BY THE BRAIN
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION MEETS LANGUAGE EVOLUTION
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

Abstract.This paper reviews arguments against the evolutionary plausibility of a traditional genetically specified universal grammar. We argue that no such universal grammar could have evolved, either by a process of natural selection or by other evolutionary mechanisms. Instead, we propose that the close fit between languages and language learners, which make language acquisition possible, arises not because humans possess a specialized biological adaptation for language, but because language has been shaped to fit the brain, a process of cultural evolution. On this account, many aspects of the structure of human languages may be explained as cultural adaptations to the human brain. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcs.85/full