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Authoritative: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1556/Select.1.2000.1-3.5   (Publisher's PDF... likely be available here.)

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Abstract

This paper is an attempt to construct a programmatic framework for the evolution of human language. First, we pres- ent a novel characterization of language, which is based on some of the most recent research results in linguistics. As these results suggest, language is best characterized as a specialized communication system, dedicated to the expres- sion of a surprisingly constrained set of meanings. This characterization calls for an account of the evolution of lan- guage in terms of the interaction between cultural and genetic evolution. We develop such an evolutionary model on the basis of the mechanism of culturally-driven genetic assimilation. As we show, a careful analysis of the diverse effects of this mechanism derives some of the most crucial properties of the evolved linguistic capacity as a specific, functional communication system.

Keywords: Cultural evolution, genetic assimilation, linguistic semantics, syntax.semantics interface, island constraints

@article{dor01selection,
  author={Daniel Dor and Eva Jablonka},
  title={From Cultural Selection to Genetic Selection: A Framework for the Evolution of Language},
  journal={Selection},
  year={2001},
  volume={1},
  number={1-3},
  pages={33-56},
  doi={10.1556/Select.1.2000.1-3.5},
  url={http://groups.lis.illinois.edu/amag/langev/paper/dor01selection.html},
  keywords={Cultural evolution, genetic assimilation, linguistic semantics, syntax.semantics interface, island constraints}
}