Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa: Plurilinguismo in Europa ... - EURAC

K. Simitopoulou-Kotzamani, N. I. Xirotiris
• Processes of transformation. Biological evolution proceeds through gene frequency changes
in populations, which occur under the infl uence of evolutionary forces, namely mutation,
migration, genetic drift 5 and natural selection 6 .
The interaction of the functional background of variation, replication and differential
fi tness 7 with of the aforementioned forces, causes the continuous evolution.
If memes are defi ned as (cognitive) information structures, able to replicate through human
hosts (vectors) and to infl uence their behaviour to promote their replication, it follows that the
cultural evolution process is based in turn on innovation and synthesis, migration and diffusion,
cultural drift and cultural selection, which all lead to meme frequency changes.
Within this general framework, memes are also subject to of a selection process
corresponding “natural selection”, since they vary (due to “mutations” in transmission, mental
storage or deliberate changes), they replicate in many copies, they are disseminated and they
differ in fi tness within the varied cultural environments. Phenomena of competition, population
dynamics and adaptation of memes are surprisingly similar to their biological counterparts.
However, whereas both genes and memes require a carrier a vector in order to survive,
it seems that systems of memes are systems of higher order, if we take under consideration
the plethora of fundamental structural units (memes), the multiple dimensions of memes’
transmission, the (longer?) duration of existence, and the accelerated expansion capacity of
memes.
1.3. Memes and the evolution of languages
Issues like the creation, the dispersion, the longevity, the extinction of a language or its
maintenance possibilities, are puzzling linguists, but challenge other disciplines as well, since
it becomes more and more acceptable that human traits cannot be properly understood outside
an interdisciplinary dialogue.
Rethinking the language evolution within the memetics framework, one could shape more
clearly the aforementioned issues.
The contemporary worldwide linguistic landscape integrates about 6000 languages, of
differential prevalence. This is the instantaneous (in terms of evolutionary time) outcome of
a long lasting process of cultural evolution, which started thousands of years ago, when the
primitive humans developed the ability to communicate through repetitive, organised and
commonly recognised sound signals, i.e. to use a certain language.
As mentioned above, the human language is a major outcome of the gradual development
of the physiology of homo sapiens sapiens, especially the evolution of the brain and the organs
related to voice articulation. Any normal human being bears genetically the ability to speak
a structured language. Which kind of language this would be, depends upon the surrounding
natural and cultural environment, which puts direct challenges to the humans living in it.
Actually the available (or developing) language memes in a particular environment constitute
the fundamental linguistic substrate of the population.
5 Genetic drift = random changes of gene frequencies through successive generations, which are observed in small size
populations, isolated from larger ones.
6 Natural selection = differential rate of reproduction or differential fi tness of the various alleles in a population.
7 Differential fi tness = ability of the structural units to survive, to reproduce themselves, to be disseminated among
many carriers and fi nally to maintain their stability in favourable environments
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Multilingualism.indb 530 4-12-2006 12:30:32