Encyclopedia of Evolution.pdf - Online Reading Center

language, evolution of
Italian, Portuguese, Romanian) are simpler than Latin. As
anyone who has studied languages knows, English has much
less complexity than other languages in verb conjugations for
person, plurality, and tense; noun declensions; demonstratives
(of which English has only “this” and “that”); articles
(of which English has only “a/an” and “the”); and numeral
classifiers (such as three sheets of paper or three head of cattle).
Any explanation of the origin of language must take into
account the complexity of languages that appears to surpass
any practical necessity.
sexual selection may explain the origin of complex
language ability, just as for the evolution of intelligence.
Females may have selected mates that were not merely the
strongest, or the most physically appealing, but also the most
intelligent and altruistic; according to evolutionary scientist
Geoffrey Miller, sexual selection was vital to the evolution
of intelligence. Language would undoubtedly have been
the major medium through which men communicated their
intelligence to prospective mates. Sexual selection would also
favor females who could understand the talk and reciprocate.
If this is the case, then the earliest language would not have
been practical but poetic and possibly musical.
Language may have begun not merely as love songs of
individual suitors but as epic poems shared by an entire culture.
Even today, the power of language in storytelling to
bring tribes together (for example, around a campfire) and
provide them a basis for unity is obvious. Tribal identity, and
tribal distinction from other tribes, was undoubtedly crucial
in the origin of bodily decorations, cave paintings, and perhaps
all other forms of art and religion (see religion, evolution
of). The revered shaman may have been both priest
and storyteller. Words seem to have a magical power, a concept
that is still maintained in modern religions as well as the
folklore of enchantments, curses, spells, and blessings. If the
words are connected to music—the almost magical power of
harmony, and counterpoint such as rounds—they become
even more powerful. One piece of evidence suggests the
social, artistic, and magical origin of language comes from
ancient Egypt. The Egyptians developed a primitive alphabet,
which was used in business. Meanwhile, the priests continued
to use hieroglyphics and thereby kept to themselves the
power of religious mystery.
Language may have also arisen partly as play. Children
are remarkably creative, and much human evolution can be
attributed to the retention of juvenile characteristics into adulthood
(see neoteny). Children can figure out ways of communicating
with other children who speak a different language.
Because language contributes to tribal identity, each
small band of humans probably developed their own language
as they spread around the world from their African
origin a hundred thousand years ago. When explorers penetrated
the New Guinea highlands in recent centuries, they
found tribes largely isolated from the rest of the world.
Each tribe had a very different language from all the others.
According to Jared Diamond, an evolutionary scientist who
has traveled extensively in New Guinea, a large share of the
world’s languages (about a thousand languages) are spoken
in New Guinea. He further suggests that this was the primi-
The work of Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza shows that there is an
approximate similarity between the genetic evolution of human
lineages and the languages spoken by these lineages. The differences
indicate that some genetic groups have adopted languages from other
genetic groups; for example, North Indians speak an Indo-European
language but are genetically similar to South Indians. The recently
developed diversity of Amerindian language families contradicts their
relative genetic uniformity.
tive Paleolithic condition of the whole planet. More recently,
some languages spread and displaced others into extinction;
the languages that spread became the progenitors of modern
language families (see below).
The Evolution of Language Diversity
Not only do humans have an innate ability to learn and
invent languages, but the diversity of languages has resulted
from cultural evolution that parallels recent human genetic
evolution.
The earliest languages may have been click languages
such as those of the San (Bushmen) of southern Africa and
the Hadzane of Tanzania. These languages use not only vowels
and consonants but also clicking sounds. The Hadzane
live about 1,200 miles (2,000 km) from the San, and their
language is unrelated to San except for the use of clicks.
The split between Hadzane and the San languages may have
occurred as long as 50,000 years ago, perhaps the oldest
divergence in the evolution of extant languages. Anthropologists
suggest that the primordial human language used clicks
because click sounds, unlike voice sounds, can be used during
hunting without scaring the prey away as a verbal language
would. Some speakers of these languages sometimes just use
clicks, with no verbal components, as if the verbal component
is a later addition.