Editing Evolutionary linguistics

{{Short description|Sociobiological approaches to linguistics}}
{{Distinguish|Historical linguistics}}
{{Linguistics}}
{{Evolutionary biology}}

'''Evolutionary linguistics''' or '''Darwinian linguistics''' is a [[sociobiology|sociobiological]] approach to the study of [[language]].<ref name=Gontier_2012>{{cite journal |last=Gontier |first=Nathalie |date=2012 |title=Selectionist approaches in evolutionary linguistics: an epistemological analysis |journal=International Studies in the Philosophy of Science |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=67–95 |doi=10.1080/02698595.2012.653114 |s2cid=121742473 |hdl=10451/45246 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name=McMahon&McMahon_2012>{{cite book|last1=McMahon | first1=April | last2=McMahon | first2=Robert  |year=2012|title=Evolutionary Linguistics|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521891394}}</ref> Evolutionary linguists consider linguistics as a subfield of [[sociobiology]] and [[evolutionary psychology]]. The approach is also closely linked with [[evolutionary anthropology]], [[cognitive linguistics]] and [[biolinguistics]]. Studying languages as the products of [[Nature versus nurture|nature]], it is interested in the biological [[Origin of language|origin]] and development of language.<ref name=Croft_2008>{{cite journal | last = Croft | first = William |date=October 2008 | title = Evolutionary Linguistics | journal = Annual Review of Anthropology | volume = 37 | pages = 219–234 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.anthro.37.081407.085156 }}</ref> Evolutionary linguistics is contrasted with [[humanism|humanistic]] approaches, especially [[structural linguistics]].<ref name=Croft_1993>{{cite journal |last=Croft |first=William |date=1993 |title=Functional-typological theory in its historical and intellectual context |journal=STUF - Language Typology and Universals |volume=46 |issue=1–4 |pages=15–26 |doi=10.1524/stuf.1993.46.14.15 |s2cid=170296028 }}</ref>

A main challenge in this research is the lack of empirical data: there are no [[archaeology|archaeological]] traces of early human language. [[Modelling biological systems|Computational biological modelling]] and [[clinical research]] with [[artificial language]]s have been employed to fill in gaps of knowledge. Although biology is understood to shape the [[brain]], which [[language processing in the brain|processes language]], there is no clear link between biology and specific human language structures or [[linguistic universal]]s.<ref name=Gibson&Tallerman_2011>{{cite book |editor-last1=Gibson|editor-first1=Kathleen R. |editor-last2=Tallerman|editor-first2=Maggie|title=The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2011 |isbn= 9780199541119}}</ref>

For lack of a breakthrough in the field, there have been numerous debates about what kind of natural phenomenon language might be. Some researchers focus on the [[Innateness hypothesis|innate aspects of language]]. It is suggested that grammar has emerged adaptationally from the human genome, bringing about a language [[instinct]];<ref name="Pinker_1994">{{cite book|last=Pinker|first=Steven|url=http://f.javier.io/rep/books/The-Language-Instinct-How-the-Mind-Creates-Language,-Steven-Pinker.pdf|title=The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1994|isbn=9780140175295|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref> or that it depends on a single mutation<ref name="Berwick&Chomsky_2015">{{cite book|last1=Berwick|first1=Robert C.|title=Why Only Us: Language and Evolution|last2=Chomsky|first2=Noam|date=2015|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=9780262034241}}</ref> which has caused a [[language organ]] to appear in the human brain.<ref name="Anderson&Lightfoot_2002">{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Stephen R.|title=The Language Organ: Linguistics as Cognitive Psychology|last2=Lightfoot|first2=David W.|date=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521007832}}</ref> This is hypothesized to result in a [[crystal]]line<ref name="Chomsky_2015">{{cite book|last=Chomsky|first=Noam|title=The Minimalist Program. 20th Anniversary Edition.|date=2015|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-52734-7}}</ref> grammatical structure underlying all human languages. Others suggest language is not crystallized, but fluid and ever-changing.<ref name="Bybee&Beckner_2015">{{cite book|last1=Bybee|first1=Joan L.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Analysis|last2=Beckner|first2=Clay|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor-last1=Heine|editor-first1=Bernd|pages=953–980|chapter=Usage-Based theory|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199544004.013.0032|isbn=978-0199544004 |editor-last2=Narrog|editor-first2=Heiko}}</ref> Others, yet, liken languages to living [[organism]]s.<ref name=VanDriem_2005>{{cite book |last=van Driem |first=George |date=2005 |editor-last1=Minett |editor-first1=James W. | editor-last2=Wang | editor-first2= William S.-Y.| title=Language Acquisition, Change and Emergence: Essays in Evolutionary Linguistics| chapter=The language organism: the Leiden theory of language evolution |pages=331–340 }}</ref> Languages are considered analogous to a [[parasite]]<ref name=Hung_2019>{{cite journal |last=Hung |first=Tzu-wei |date=2019 |title=How did language evolve? Some reflections on the language parasite debate |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332340618 |journal=Biological Theory |volume=14 |issue= 4|pages=214–223 |doi=10.1007/s13752-019-00321-x |s2cid=145846758 |access-date=2020-03-02}}</ref> or [[population]]s of [[Viruses of the Mind|mind-viruses]]. There is so far little [[scientific evidence]] for any of these claims, and some of them have been labelled as [[pseudoscience]].<ref name=Schwarz-Friesel_2012>{{cite journal |last=Schwarz-Friesel |first=Monika |date=2012 |title=On the status of external evidence in the theories of cognitive linguistics |journal=Language Sciences |volume=34 |issue=6 |pages=656–664 |doi=10.1016/j.langsci.2012.04.007}}</ref><ref name=Polichak_2002>{{cite book |last=Polichak |first=James W. |date=2002|editor-last=Shermer |editor-first=Michael |  title=The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, Vol. 1| publisher=ABC Clio |chapter=Memes as pseudoscience |pages=664–667 |isbn=1-57607-653-9 }}</ref>

==History==

===1863–1945: social Darwinism===

Although pre-Darwinian theorists had compared languages to living organisms as a [[metaphor]], the comparison was first taken literally in 1863 by the [[Historical linguistics|historical linguist]] [[August Schleicher]] who was inspired by [[Charles Darwin|Charles Darwin's]] ''[[On the Origin of Species]]''.<ref name=Stamos_2006>{{cite book |last=Stamos|first=David N. |title=Darwin and the Nature of Species|publisher=SUNY Press |year=2006 |pages=55 | url=https://www.academia.edu/877914 | access-date=2020-03-03 |isbn= 9780791480885}}</ref> At the time there was not enough evidence to prove that Darwin's theory of [[natural selection]] was correct. Schleicher proposed that linguistics could be used as a testing ground for the study of the evolution of [[species]].<ref name=Aronoff_2017>{{cite book |last=Aronoff|first=Mark |editor-last1=Bowern | editor-last2=Horn | editor-last3=Zanuttini |title=On Looking into Words (and Beyond): Structures, Relations, Analyses|publisher=SUNY Press |year=2017|pages=443–456 |chapter=20 Darwinism tested by the science of language | url=https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/151| access-date=2020-03-03 |isbn= 978-3-946234-92-0}}</ref> A review of Schleicher's book ''Darwinism as Tested by the Science of Language'' appeared in the first issue of ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' journal in 1870.<ref name=Müller_1870>{{cite journal |last=Müller |first=Max |date=1870 |title=Darwinism tested by the science of language (review). |url= https://zenodo.org/record/1763482|journal=Nature |volume=1 |pages=256–259 |doi=10.1038/001256a0 |s2cid=176892155 |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-002C-5EFD-E |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Darwin reiterated Schleicher's proposition in his 1871 book ''[[The Descent of Man]]'', claiming that languages are comparable to species, and that [[language change]] occurs through [[natural selection]] as words 'struggle for life'. Darwin believed that languages had evolved from animal [[mating call]]s.<ref name=Darwin_1871>{{cite book |last=Darwin|first=Charles |title=The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex|publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1981 |orig-year=1871 |pages=59–61 | url=https://teoriaevolutiva.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/darwin-c-the-descent-of-man-and-selection-in-relation-to-sex.pdf | access-date=2020-03-03 |isbn=0-691-08278-2}}</ref> Darwinists considered the concept of language creation as unscientific.<ref name=Darwin_1863>{{cite book |last=Schleicher|first=August |title=Darwinism Tested by the Science of Language, English translation|publisher=John Camden Hotten |year=1869 |orig-year=1863 | url=https://archive.org/details/darwinismtestedb69schl/page/5/mode/2up| access-date=2020-03-03 |isbn=0-691-08278-2}}</ref>

August Schleicher and his friend [[Ernst Haeckel]] were keen gardeners and regarded the study of cultures as a type of [[botany]], with different species competing for the same living space.<ref name=Richards_2002>{{cite book |last=Richards |first=Robert J. |date=2002|editor-last=Doerres |editor-first=M. | title=The Experimenting in Tongues: Studies in Science and Language | publisher=Stanford University Press |chapter=The linguistic creation of man: Charles Darwin, August Schleicher, Ernst Haeckel, and themissing link in 19th century evolutionary theory |pages=21–48 |isbn=1-57607-653-9 }}</ref><ref name=Aronoff_2017 /> Similar ideas became later advocated by politicians who wanted to appeal to [[working class]] voters, not least by the [[National socialism|national socialists]] who subsequently included the concept of struggle for living space in their agenda.<ref name=Richards_2013>{{cite book |last=Richards |first=R. J. |year=2013| title=Was Hitler a Darwinian?: Disputed Questions in the History of Evolutionary Theory | publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-05893-1 }}</ref> Highly influential until the end of [[World War II]], [[social Darwinism]] was eventually banished from human sciences, leading to a strict separation of natural and sociocultural studies.<ref name=Aronoff_2017 />

This gave rise to the dominance of structural linguistics in Europe. There had long been a dispute between the Darwinists and the French intellectuals with the topic of language evolution famously having been banned by the [[Société Linguistique de Paris|Paris Linguistic Society]] as early as in 1866. [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] proposed [[structuralism]] to replace evolutionary linguistics in his ''[[Course in General Linguistics]]'', published posthumously in 1916. The structuralists rose to academic political power in human and social sciences in the aftermath of the student revolts of Spring 1968, establishing [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] as an international centrepoint of humanistic thinking.

===From 1959 onwards: genetic determinism===
In the [[United States]], structuralism was however fended off by the advocates of [[behavioural psychology]]; a linguistics framework nicknamed as 'American structuralism'. It was eventually replaced by the approach of [[Noam Chomsky]] who published a modification of [[Louis Hjelmslev|Louis Hjelmslev's]] formal structuralist theory, claiming that [[syntactic structure]]s are [[Innatism|innate]]. An active figure in peace demonstrations in the 1950s and 1960s, Chomsky rose to academic political power following Spring 1968 at the MIT.<ref name=Smith_2002>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Neil |year=2002| title=Chomsky: Ideas and Ideals. | edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn= 0-521-47517-1 }}</ref>

Chomsky became an influential opponent of the French intellectuals during the following decades, and his supporters successfully confronted the [[Post-structuralism|post-structuralists]]  in the ''[[Science Wars]]'' of the late 1990s.<ref name=Bricmont&Franck_2010>{{cite book |last1=Bricmont |first1=jean |last2=Franck | first2=Julie |editor-last1=Bricmont |editor-first1=jean |editor-last2=Franck | editor-first2=Julie|year=2010| title=Chomsky Notebook  |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn= 9780231144759 }}</ref> The shift of the century saw a new academic funding policy where interdisciplinary research became favoured, effectively directing research funds to biological humanities.<ref name=Rhoten_2016>{{cite journal |last=Rhoten |first=Diana |date=July 19, 2016 |title=Interdisciplinary research: trend or transition? |url=https://items.ssrc.org/from-our-archives/interdisciplinary-research-trend-or-transition/ |journal=Language Sciences |access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref> The decline of structuralism was evident by 2015 with Sorbonne having lost its former spirit.<ref name=Hazareesingh_2015>{{cite journal |last=Hazareesingh |first=Sudhir |date=September 19, 2015 |title=The decline of the French intellectual |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/decline-of-french-intellectual-culture-literature-art-philosophy-history/ |journal=Politico |access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref>

Chomsky eventually claimed that syntactic structures are caused by a random [[mutation]] in the human [[genome]],<ref name=Berwick&Chomsky_2015/> proposing a similar explanation for other human faculties such as [[ethics]].<ref name=Smith_2002 /> But [[Steven Pinker]] argued in 1990 that they are the outcome of evolutionary [[adaptation]]s.<ref name="Pinker Bloom 2011">{{cite journal|last1=Pinker|first1=Steven|last2=Bloom|first2=Paul|title=Natural language and natural selection|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=13|issue=4|year=2011|pages=707–727|doi=10.1017/S0140525X00081061|url=http://www.phonetik.uni-muenchen.de/~hoole/kurse/hs_evolution/pinkerbloom_bbs_13_4_1990.pdf|citeseerx=10.1.1.116.4044|s2cid=6167614|access-date=2017-10-24|archive-date=2007-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711071004/http://www.phonetik.uni-muenchen.de/~hoole/kurse/hs_evolution/pinkerbloom_bbs_13_4_1990.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===From 1976 onwards: Neo-Darwinism===
At the same time when the Chomskyan paradigm of [[biological determinism]] defeated [[humanism]], it was losing its own clout within sociobiology. It was reported likewise in 2015 that [[generative grammar]] was under fire in [[applied linguistics]] and in the process of being replaced with ''[[Usage-based models of language|usage-based linguistics]]'';<ref name=DeBot_2015>{{cite book |last=de Bot |first=Kees |year=2015| title=A History of Applied Linguistics: From 1980 to the Present |publisher=Routledge |isbn= 9781138820654 }}</ref> a derivative of [[Richard Dawkins|Richard Dawkins's]] [[memetics]].<ref name=Boesch&Tomasello_1998>{{cite journal |last1=Boesch |first1=Christoophe |last2=Tomasello|first2=Michael|date=1998 |title=Chimpanzee and human cultures (with a comment from James D. Paterson) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233820547 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=591–614 |doi=10.1086/204785 |s2cid=55562574 |access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref> It is a concept of linguistic units as [[Replicator (evolution unit)|replicators]]. Following the publication of memetics in Dawkins's 1976 nonfiction bestseller ''[[The Selfish Gene]]'', many biologically inclined linguists, frustrated with the lack of evidence for Chomsky's [[Universal Grammar]], grouped under different brands including a framework called [[Cognitive linguistics#Cognitive Linguistics (linguistics framework)|Cognitive Linguistics]] (with capitalised initials), and 'functional' (adaptational) linguistics (not to be confused with [[Functional theories of grammar|functional linguistics]]) to confront both Chomsky and the humanists.<ref name=Croft_1993 /> The replicator approach is today dominant in evolutionary linguistics, applied linguistics, cognitive linguistics and [[linguistic typology]]; while the generative approach has maintained its position in general linguistics, especially [[syntax]]; and in [[computational linguistics]].

==View of linguistics==

Evolutionary linguistics is part of a wider framework of [[Universal Darwinism]]. In this view, linguistics is seen as an [[Ecology|ecological]] environment for research traditions struggling for the same resources.<ref name=Croft_1993 /> According to [[David Hull (philosopher)|David Hull]], these traditions correspond to species in biology. Relationships between research traditions can be [[symbiosis|symbiotic]], [[Competition (biology)|competitive]] or [[Parasitism|parasitic]]. An adaptation of Hull's theory in linguistics is proposed by [[William Croft (linguist)|William Croft]].<ref name=Croft_2008 /> He argues that the Darwinian method is more advantageous than linguistic models based on [[physics]], [[structuralism|structuralist sociology]], or [[hermeneutics]].<ref name=Croft_1993 />

==Approaches==

Evolutionary linguistics is often divided into [[Adaptationism|functionalism]] and [[Structuralism (biology)|formalism]],<ref name=Darnell_1999>{{cite book |year=1999|editor-last1=Darnell|editor-last2=Moravcsik| editor-last3=Noonan | editor-last4=Newmeyer | editor-last5=Wheatley| title=Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics, Vol. 1| publisher=John Benjamins |pages=664–667 |isbn=9789027298799 }}</ref> concepts which are not to be confused with [[Structural functionalism|functionalism]] and [[Formalism (philosophy)|formalism]] in the humanistic reference.<ref name=Croft_2015>{{cite book |last=Croft |first=William |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=James | year=2015| title=International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences | chapter=Functional approaches to grammar |publisher=Elsevier |isbn= 9780080970875 }}</ref> Functional evolutionary linguistics considers languages as [[adaptation]]s to human mind. The formalist view regards them as crystallised or non-adaptational.<ref name=Darnell_1999 />

===Functionalism (adaptationism) ===

The adaptational view of language is advocated by various frameworks of cognitive and evolutionary linguistics, with the terms 'functionalism' and 'Cognitive Linguistics' often being equated.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cognitivelinguistics.org/en/about-cognitive-linguistics |title=About Cognitive Linguistics|website=cognitivelinguistics.org |publisher=ICLA - International Cognitive Linguistics Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209162946/https://cognitivelinguistics.org/en/about-cognitive-linguistics|access-date=2020-05-12|archive-date=2019-12-09}}</ref> It is hypothesised that the evolution of the animal brain provides humans with a mechanism of abstract reasoning which is a 'metaphorical' version of image-based reasoning.<ref name="Lakoff_1990">{{cite journal |last=Lakoff |first=George |date=1990 |title=Iinvariance hypothesis: is abstract reasoning based on image-schemas? |journal=Cognitive Linguistics |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=39–74 |doi= 10.1515/cogl.1990.1.1.39 |s2cid=144380802 }}</ref> Language is not considered as a separate area of [[cognition]],  but as coinciding with general cognitive capacities, such as [[perception]], [[attention]], [[motor skills]], and spatial and [[visual processing]]. It is argued to function according to the same principles as these.<ref name="Croft&Cruse_2004">{{cite book |last1=Croft |first1=William |last2=Cruse |first2=Alan|year=2004| title=Cognitive Linguistics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn= 9780511803864 }}</ref><ref name="Geeraerts_2006">{{cite book |last1=Geeraerts |first1=Dirk |year=2006| title=Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings | editor-last=Geeraerts | editor-first=Dirk | chapter=Introduction: a rough guide to Cognitive Linguistics|publisher=De Gruyter |isbn= 978-3-11-019990-1  }}</ref>

It is thought that the brain links action schemes to form–meaning pairs which are called [[Grammatical construction|constructions]].<ref name="Arbib_2015">{{cite book |last=Arbib |first=Michael A.|editor-last= MacWhinney and O'Grady |title=Handbook of Language Emergence |publisher=Wiley |date=2015 |pages=81–109 |chapter= Language evolution – an emergentist perspective |isbn= 9781118346136 }}</ref> Cognitive linguistic approaches to syntax are called [[Cognitive Grammar|cognitive]] and [[construction grammar]].<ref name="Croft&Cruse_2004" /> Also deriving from memetics and other cultural replicator theories,<ref name=Croft_2008 /> these can study the natural or [[social selection]] and adaptation of linguistic units. Adaptational models reject a formal systemic view of language and consider language as a population of linguistic units.

The bad reputation of social Darwinism and memetics has been discussed in the literature, and recommendations for new terminology have been given.<ref name=Keller_1994>{{cite book |last=Keller |first=Rudi |year=1994| title=On Language Change: the Invisible Hand in Language |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=9780415076722 }}</ref> What correspond to replicators or mind-viruses in memetics are called ''linguemes'' in Croft's ''theory of Utterance Selection'' (TUS),<ref name=Croft_2006>{{cite book |last=Croft |first=William |editor-last=Nedergaard Thomsen |editor-first=Ole | year=2006| title=Competing Models of Linguistic Change: Evolution and Beyond | chapter=The relevance of an evolutionary model to historical linguistics |series=Current Issues in Linguistic Theory |volume=279 |publisher=John Benjamins |pages=91–132 |doi=10.1075/cilt.279.08cro |isbn=978-90-272-4794-0 }}</ref> and likewise linguemes or constructions in construction grammar and [[Usage-based models of language|usage-based linguistics]];<ref name=Kirby_2013>{{cite book |last=Kirby|first=Simon |chapter=Transitions: The Evolution of Linguistic Replicators |editor-last1=Binder |editor-last2=Smith|year=2013| title=The Language Phenomenon |series=The Frontiers Collection |publisher=Springer|url=http://www.labex-whoami.fr/images/documents/kirby_Labex_JC_paper.pdf |pages=121–138 |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-36086-2_6 |isbn=978-3-642-36085-5 |access-date=2020-03-04}}</ref><ref name=Zehentner_2019>{{cite book |last=Zehentner |first=Eva |year=2019| title=Competition in Language Change: the Rise of the English Dative Alternation |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |isbn=978-3-11-063385-6 }}</ref> and [[metaphor]]s,<ref name=Camarinha-Matos&Afsarmanesh_2008>{{cite book |last1=Camarinha-Matos |first1=Luis M.|last2=Afsarmanesh |first2=Hamideh |year=2008| title=Collaborative Networks: Reference Modeling |publisher=Springer|pages=139–164 |isbn=978-0-387-79426-6 }}</ref> [[Frame semantics (linguistics)|frames]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fillmore |first1=Charles J. |last2=Baker |first2=Collin |editor-last=Heine & Narrog |title=The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic analysis (2nd ed.) |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2014 |pages=791–816 |chapter=A frames Approach to Semantic Analysis |chapter-url=http://lingo.stanford.edu/sag/papers/Fillmore-Baker-2011.pdf|isbn= 978-0199677078}}</ref> or [[Schema (psychology)|schemas]]<ref name=Langacker_1987>{{cite book |last=Langacker|first=Roland |year=1987| title=Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, Vol. 1: Theoretical prerequisites |publisher=Stanford University Press |pages=130 |isbn=978-0804738514 }}</ref> in cognitive and construction grammar. The reference of memetics has been largely replaced with that of a [[Complex Adaptive System]].<ref name=Frank_2008>{{cite book |last=Frank |first=Roslyn M. |date=2008|editor-last=Frank |  title=Sociocultural Situatedness, Vol. 2| publisher=De Gruyter |chapter=The Language–organism–species analogy: a complex adaptive systems approach to shifting perspectives on "language" |pages=215–262 |isbn=978-3-11-019911-6 }}</ref> In current linguistics, this term covers a wide range of evolutionary notions while maintaining the [[Neo-Darwinism|Neo-Darwinian]] concepts of replication and replicator population.<ref name=Beckner_2009>{{cite journal |last=Beckner, Blythe, Bybee, Christiansen, Croft, Ellis, Holland, Ke, Larsen-Freeman, Schoenemann |year=2009 |title=Language is a Complex Adaptive System: Position Paper |url=http://cnl.psych.cornell.edu/pubs/2009-LACAS-pos-LL.pdf |journal=Language Learning |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=1–26 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9922.2009.00533.x|s2cid=143150253 |access-date=2020-03-04}}</ref>

Functional evolutionary linguistics is not to be confused with [[Functional linguistics|functional humanistic linguistics]].

===Formalism (structuralism)===

Advocates of formal evolutionary explanation in linguistics argue that linguistic structures are crystallised. Inspired by 19th century advances in [[crystallography]], Schleicher argued that different types of languages are like plants, animals and crystals.<ref name=Arbukle_1970>{{cite journal |last=Arbukle |first=John |date=1970 |title=August Schleicher and the Linguistics/ Philology Dichotomy: A Chapter in the History of Linguistics |journal=Word |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=17–31 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1970.11435578 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The idea of linguistic structures as frozen drops was revived in [[tagmemics]],<ref name=Pike_1960>{{cite journal |last=Pike |first=Kenneth Lee |date=1960 |title=Nucleation |journal=Word |volume=44 |issue=7 |pages=291–295 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-4781.1960.tb01762.x }}</ref> an approach to linguistics with the goal to uncover divine symmetries underlying all languages, as if caused by [[Creation myth|the Creation]].<ref name=Seuren2015>{{cite book |last=Seuren |first=Pieter |editor-last=Kiss and Alexiadou |title= Syntax--theory and analysis: An international handbook |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2015 |pages=134–157 |chapter= Prestructuralist and structuralist approaches to syntax |isbn= 9783110202762 }}</ref>

In modern [[biolinguistics]], [[X-bar theory|the X-bar tree]] is argued to be like natural systems such as [[Ferrofluid|ferromagnetic droplets]] and botanic forms.<ref name=Piattelli-Palmarini&Vitiello_2015>{{cite journal |last1=Piattelli-Palmarini|first1=Massimo |last2=Vitiello |first2=Giuseppei|date=2019 |title=Linguistics and some aspects of its underlying dynamics |journal=Biolinguistics |volume=9 |pages=96–115 |doi=10.5964/bioling.9033 |arxiv=1506.08663 |s2cid=14775156 |issn=1450-3417 }}</ref> Generative grammar considers syntactic structures similar to [[snowflake]]s.<ref name=Chomsky_2015/> It is hypothesised that such patterns are caused by a [[mutation]] in humans.<ref name=Berwick&Chomsky_2015/>

The formal–structural evolutionary aspect of linguistics is not to be confused with [[structural linguistics]].

==Evidence==
There was some hope of a breakthrough with the discovery of the ''[[FOXP2]]'' [[gene]].<ref name="Scharff 2005">{{cite journal |vauthors =Scharff C, Haesler S |title=An evolutionary perspective on FoxP2: strictly for the birds? |journal =Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. |volume =15 |issue =6 |pages =694–703 |date =December 2005 |pmid =16266802 |doi =10.1016/j.conb.2005.10.004 |s2cid =11350165 }}</ref><ref name="Scharff 2011">{{cite journal |vauthors =Scharff C, Petri J|title =Evo-devo, deep homology and FoxP2: implications for the evolution of speech and language |journal =Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |volume =366 |issue =1574 |pages =2124–40 |date =July 2011 |pmid =21690130 |pmc =3130369 |doi =10.1098/rstb.2011.0001 }}</ref>  There is little support, however, for the idea that ''FOXP2'' is 'the grammar gene' or that it had much to do with the relatively recent emergence of syntactical speech.<ref name="Diller 2009">{{cite book | last1 = Diller | first1 = Karl C. |last2 = Cann | first2 =Rebecca L. |chapter = Evidence Against a Genetic-Based Revolution in Language 50,000 Years Ago |editor =Rudolf Botha |editor2 =Chris Knight | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IVRkzK1VX1oC | title= The Cradle of Language|series = Oxford Series in the Evolution of Language |date = 30 April 2009 |publisher = Oxford University Press |location = Oxford |isbn = 978-0-19-954586-5 | oclc = 804498749 | pages =135–149 | quote = [...] we present genetic evidence that the mutations in FOXP2, the gene at issue, may actually have occurred some 1.8 million years ago, when ''Homo habilis'' and ''Homo ergaster'' were appearing in the fossil record [...]. [...] The link of FOXP2 to vocalization is found also in  birds, mice, and echolocating bats [...]. [...] The archeological and anthropological evidence accumulating in the last decade and a half does not support the claim that there was a revolutionary behavioral change in humans 50,000 years ago.}}</ref> The idea that people have a language instinct is disputed.<ref name=Sampson_2007>{{cite journal |last=Sampson |first=Geoffrey |year=2007 |title=There is no language instinct |url =https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/4783/478348690002.pdf |journal=Ilha do Desterro |issue=52 |pages=35–63|access-date= 2024-11-19 | quote = All arguments in favour of a biologically-governed language capacity are refuted to show that, according to available evidence, there is no language instinct. [...] On the available evidence, languages seem to be the products of cultural evolution only.}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Evans
 |first1               = Vyvyan
 |author-link1         = Vyvyan Evans
 |date                 = 2 October 2014
 |title                = The Language Myth: Why Language is Not an Instinct
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=_PlkBAAAQBAJ
 |publication-place    = Cambridge
 |publisher            = Cambridge University Press
 |isbn                 = 9781107043961
 |access-date          = 19 November 2024
}} 
</ref>
Memetics is sometimes discredited as [[pseudoscience]]<ref name=Polichak_2002 /> and neurological claims made by evolutionary cognitive linguists have been likened to pseudoscience.<ref name=Schwarz-Friesel_2012 /> All in all, there does not appear to be any evidence for the basic tenets of evolutionary linguistics beyond the fact that language is processed by the brain, and brain structures are shaped by genes.<ref>
Compare:
{{cite book
 |last1                = Gibson
 |first1               = Kathleen R.
 |last2                = Tallerman
 |first2               = Maggie
 |author-link2         = Maggie Tallerman
 |editor-last1         = Tallerman
 |editor-first1        = Maggie
 |editor-link1         = Maggie Tallerman
 |editor-last2         = Gibson
 |editor-first2        = Kathleen R.
 |year                 = 2012
 |chapter              = Introduction to Part II: The biology of language evolution: anatomy, genetics and neurology
 |title                = The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=doczP2WKeoMC
 |series               = Oxford Handbooks in Linguistics
 |publication-place    = Oxford
 |publisher            = Oxford University Press
 |pages                = 134-135
 |isbn                 = 9780199541119
 |access-date          = 19 November 2024
 |quote                = The result of the combined processes of potentially rapid genetic change and an earlier, somewhat slower, pace of language change is that genes, languages, and the brain have co-evolved, and to some extent may be continuing to do so. On the other hand, genes and brains enable language; on the other, language change selects for further, linguistically-conducive, changes in genes and brains.
}} 
</ref><ref>
Compare:
{{cite book
 |last1                = Tallerman
 |first1               = Maggie
 |author-link1         = Maggie Tallerman
 |last2                = Gibson
 |first2               = Kathleen R.
 |editor-last1         = Tallerman
 |editor-first1        = Maggie
 |editor-link1         = Maggie Tallerman
 |editor-last2         = Gibson
 |editor-first2        = Kathleen R.
 |year                 = 2012
 |chapter              = Introduction: The evolution of language
 |title                = The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=doczP2WKeoMC
 |series               = Oxford Handbooks in Linguistics
 |publication-place    = Oxford
 |publisher            = Oxford University Press
 |page                 = 10
 |isbn                 = 9780199541119
 |access-date          = 19 November 2024
 |quote                = [...] we believe that serious advances have been made in the past few decades in terms of building an evidence-based discipline.
}} 
</ref>

==Criticism==

Evolutionary linguistics has been criticised by advocates of (humanistic) structural and functional linguistics. [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] commented on 19th century evolutionary linguistics:
{{Blockquote|text=
"Language was considered a specific sphere, a fourth natural kingdom; this led to methods of reasoning which would have caused astonishment in other sciences. Today one cannot read a dozen lines written at that time without being struck by absurdities of reasoning and by the terminology used to justify these absurdities”<ref>{{cite book |last=de Saussure |first=Ferdinand |title=Course in general linguistics |place=New York |publisher=Philosophy Library |date=1959 |orig-year=First published 1916 |url=https://monoskop.org/images/0/0b/Saussure_Ferdinand_de_Course_in_General_Linguistics_1959.pdf |isbn=9780231157278 |author-link=Ferdinand de Saussure |access-date=2020-03-04 |archive-date=2020-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414113626/https://monoskop.org/images/0/0b/Saussure_Ferdinand_de_Course_in_General_Linguistics_1959.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>|}}

[[Mark Aronoff]], however, argues that historical linguistics had its golden age during the time of Schleicher and his supporters, enjoying a place among the hard sciences, and considers the return of Darwinian linguistics as a positive development. [[Esa Itkonen]] nonetheless deems the revival of Darwinism as a hopeless enterprise:
{{Blockquote|text=
"There is ... an application of intelligence in linguistic change which is absent in biological evolution; and this suffices to make the two domains totally disanalogous ... &#91;Grammaticalisation depends on&#93; cognitive processes, ultimately serving the goal of problem solving, which intelligent entities like humans must perform all the time, but which biological entities like genes cannot perform. Trying to eliminate this basic difference leads to confusion.”<ref name=Itkonen_1999>{{cite journal |last=Itkonen |first=Esa |year=1999 |title=Functionalism yes, biologism no |journal=Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=219–221 |doi=10.1515/zfsw.1999.18.2.219|s2cid=146998564 |doi-access=free }}</ref>|}}

Itkonen also points out that the principles of natural selection are not applicable because language innovation and acceptance have the same source which is the speech community. In biological evolution, mutation and selection have different sources. This makes it possible for people to change their languages, but not their [[genotype]].<ref name=Itkonen_2011>{{cite journal|last1= Itkonen|first1= Esa|date= 2011|title= On Coseriu's legacy|url= http://www.romling.uni-tuebingen.de/energeia/zeitschrift/2011/pdf/On_Coserius_legacy.pdf|journal= Energeia|issue= III|pages= 1–29|doi= 10.55245/energeia.2011.001|s2cid= 247142924|access-date= 2020-01-14|archive-date= 2020-01-14|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200114133703/http://www.romling.uni-tuebingen.de/energeia/zeitschrift/2011/pdf/On_Coserius_legacy.pdf|url-status= dead}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Evolutionary biology}}
{{col div|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Biolinguistics]]
* [[Evolutionary psychology of language]]
* [[FOXP2]]
* [[Origin of language]]
* [[Historical linguistics]]
* [[Phylogenetic tree]]
* [[Universal Darwinism]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Atkinson QD, Meade A, Venditti C, Greenhill SJ, Pagel M|title=Languages evolve in punctuational bursts |journal=Science |volume=319 |issue=5863 |pages=588 |year=2008 |pmid=18239118 |doi=10.1126/science.1149683|s2cid=29740420 |hdl=1885/33371 |hdl-access=free }}
*{{cite book |editor-last = Botha |editor-first = R |editor2 = Knight, C. |title = The Cradle of Language |series = Oxford Series in the Evolution of Language |year = 2009 |publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] |location = Oxford. |isbn = 978-0-19-954586-5 | oclc = 804498749}}
**{{cite book | last1 = Diller | first1 = Karl C. |last2 = Cann | first2 =Rebecca L. |title = Evidence Against a Genetic-Based Revolution in Language 50,000 Years Ago |editor=Rudolf Botha |editor2=Chris Knight| work= The Cradle of Language|series = Oxford Series in the Evolution of Language |year = 2009 |publisher = Oxford University Press |location = Oxford. |isbn = 978-0-19-954586-5 | oclc = 804498749 | pages =135–149}}
**{{cite book |last = Power| first = Camilla |title=Sexual Selection Models for the Emergence of Symbolic Communication: Why They Should be Reversed |editor=Rudolf Botha |editor2=Chris Knight| work= The Cradle of Language|series = Oxford Series in the Evolution of Language |year = 2009 |publisher = Oxford University Press |location = Oxford. |isbn = 978-0-19-954586-5 | oclc = 804498749| pages= 257–280}}
**{{cite book |last = Watts | first = Ian  |title=Red Ochre, Body Painting, and Language: Interpreting the Blombos Ochre |editor=Rudolf Botha |editor2=Chris Knight| work= The Cradle of Language|series = Oxford Series in the Evolution of Language |year = 2009 |publisher = Oxford University Press |location = Oxford. |isbn = 978-0-19-954586-5 | oclc = 804498749 | pages =62–92}}
*{{cite journal | doi = 10.1075/eoc.4.1.07can | last1 = Cangelosi | first1 = A. | author-link2 = Stevan Harnad | last2 = Harnad | first2 = S. | year = 2001 | title = The adaptive advantage of symbolic theft over sensorimotor toil: Grounding language in perceptual categories | url = http://cogprints.org/2036/ | journal = Evolution of Communication | volume = 4 | issue = 1| pages = 117–142 | hdl = 10026.1/3619 | hdl-access = free }}
*{{cite journal|last1=Carstairs-McCarthy|first1=Andrew|title=Language evolution: What linguists can contribute |journal=Lingua| volume=117|issue=3| year=2007| pages=503–509| doi=10.1016/j.lingua.2005.07.004}}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Christiansen| first1 =  Morten H.|author-link1=Morten H. Christiansen| title = Language has evolved to depend on multiple-cue integration| editor= Rudolf P Botha |editor2=Martin Everaert | work = The evolutionary emergence of language : evidence and inferenc | date = 2013 | publisher = Oxford University Press  | location = Oxford, UK | isbn = 978-0-19-965484-0 | oclc = 828055639  }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Christiansen | first1 = Morten H. | last2 = Kirby | first2 = Simon. | title = Language evolution | date = 2003 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford; New York | isbn = 978-0-19-924484-3 | oclc = 51235137 }}
**{{cite book | last1 = Bickerton | first1 = Derek | title = Symbol and Structure: A Comprehensive Framework for Language Evolution | pages = 77–93|editor=Morten H. Christiansen  |editor2=Simon Kirby | work = Language evolution | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2003 | location = Oxford; New York | isbn = 978-0-19-924484-3 | oclc = 51235137}}
**{{cite book | last1 = Hurford | first1 = James R. | title = The Language Mosaic and Its Evolution | pages = 38–57|editor=Morten H. Christiansen  |editor2=Simon Kirby | work = Language evolution | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2003 | location = Oxford; New York | isbn = 978-0-19-924484-3 | oclc = 51235137}}
**{{cite book | last1 =  Lieberman | first1 = Philip| title = Motor Control, Speech, and the Evolution of Language | pages = 252–271|editor=Morten H. Christiansen  |editor2=Simon Kirby | work = Language evolution | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2003 | location = Oxford; New York | isbn = 978-0-19-924484-3 | oclc = 51235137}}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Deacon, Terrence William | title = The symbolic species : the co-evolution of language and the brain | date = 1997 | publisher = W.W. Norton | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-393-03838-5 | oclc = 490308871 | author-link1 = Terrence Deacon | url = https://archive.org/details/symbolicspeciesc00deac }}
*{{Cite book | last1= Dor |first1= Daniel | last2= Jablonka| first2= Eva| title = How language changed the genes: toward an explicit account of the evolution of language |editor=Jürgen Trabant |editor2=Sean Ward | work = New essays on the origin of language | date = 2001 | publisher = Mouton de Gruyter | location = Berlin; N.Y. | isbn = 978-3-11-017025-2 | oclc =  46935997| url = http://people.socsci.tau.ac.il/mu/danield/files/2010/07/09dorj.pdf | pages = 149–175 }} 
*{{Cite web  | last1 = Dor | first1 = Daniel | last2 = Jablonka |first2 = Eva | title =  From Cultural Selection to Genetic Selection: A Framework for the Evolution of Language | url = http://people.socsci.tau.ac.il/mu/danield/files/2010/07/selection-paper.pdf | publisher =Selection 1  | date = 2000 | access-date = 10 December 2013 }} 
*{{cite book |last = Elvira | first = Javier |title = Evolución lingüística y cambio sintáctico |series = Fondo Hispánico de Lingüística y Filología |year = 2009 |publisher = Peter Lang |location = Bern et al. |isbn = 978-3-0343-0323-1 |oclc =  475438932}}
*{{cite book |last = Fitch | first = W. Tecumseh |title = The Evolution of Language |year = 2010 |publisher = Cambridge |location = Cambridge |isbn = 978-0-521-67736-3| oclc =  428024376}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Gabrić P |title=Book Review: Neanderthal Language: Demystifying the Linguistic Powers of Our Extinct Cousins |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=12 |issue= |article-number=702361 |year=2021 |page=702361 |pmc=8194866 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.702361 |doi-access=free }}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Gabrić P |title=Differentiation between agents and patients in the putative two-word stage of language evolution |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=12 |issue= |article-number=684022 |year=2021 |page=684022 |pmid=34456797 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.684022 |pmc=8385233 |doi-access=free }}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Gabrić P |title=Overlooked evidence for semantic compositionality and signal reduction in wild chimpanzees (''Pan troglodytes'') |journal=Animal Cognition |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=631–643 |year=2022 |pmid=34822011 |doi=10.1007/s10071-021-01584-3 |pmc=9107436 }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Hauser | first1 = Marc D. | title = The evolution of communication | date = 1996 | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | isbn = 978-0-262-08250-1 | oclc =  750525164 }}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Harnad |editor-first=Stevan R. |editor-link=Stevan Harnad |editor2=Steklis, Horst D. |editor3=Lancaster, Jane |title = Origins and Evolution of Language and Speech |series = Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, v. 280 |year = 1976 |publisher = New York Academy of Sciences |location = New York |isbn = 978-0-89072-026-4 | oclc =  2493424}}
**{{Cite book | last1 = Steklis | first1 = Horst D.| last2 = Harnad | first2 = Stevan R.
|title=From hand to mouth : some critical stages in the evolution of language|editor1= Stevan R Harnad |editor2=Horst D Steklis |editor3=Jane Beckman Lancaster  | work = Origins and Evolution of Language and Speech | date = 1976 | publisher = New York Academy of Sciences | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-89072-026-4| oclc = 2493424 | url = http://cogprints.org/866/1/harnad76.hand.html }}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Hauser MD, Chomsky N, Fitch WT |title=The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? |journal=Science |volume=298 |issue=5598 |pages=1569–79 |year=2002 |pmid=12446899 |doi=10.1126/science.298.5598.1569 |url=http://www3.isrl.uiuc.edu/~junwang4/langev/localcopy/pdf/hauser02science.pdf |access-date=2007-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926134521/http://www3.isrl.uiuc.edu/~junwang4/langev/localcopy/pdf/hauser02science.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-26 |url-status=dead }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Heine | first1 = Bernd | last2 = Kuteva | first2 = Tania | title = The genesis of grammar : a reconstructio | date = 2007 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford; New York | isbn = 978-0-19-922777-8 | oclc = 849464326 }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Hurford | first1 = James R. | title = The origins of meaning | date = 2007 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford; New York | isbn = 978-0-19-920785-5 | oclc = 263645256 }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Jackendoff | first1 = Ray | title = Foundations of language : brain, meaning, grammar, evolution | date = 2002 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford; New York | isbn = 978-0-19-827012-6 | oclc = 48053881 }}
*{{cite book|last= Johanson|first= Donald C.|author2=Edgar, Blake|title=From Lucy to Language|url= https://archive.org/details/fromlucytolangua2006joha|url-access= registration|year=2006 |edition= Revised, updated, and expanded|publisher= Simon and Schuster|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-7432-8064-8|oclc=72440476}}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Johansson | first1 = Sverker | title = Origins of language : constraints on hypotheses | date = 2005 | publisher = John Benjamins Pub. | location = Amsterdam; Philadelphia | isbn = 978-90-272-3891-7 | oclc = 803876944 }}
*{{cite book|last=Kenneally|first=Christine|title=The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language|year=2007|publisher=Viking|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-670-03490-1|oclc=80460757|url=https://archive.org/details/firstwordsearchf00kenn}}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Knight| first1 =Chris| title=The origins of symbolic culture|editor1= Ulrich J Frey |editor2=Charlotte Störmer |editor3=Kai P Willführ | work = Homo novus : a human without illusion | date = 2010 | publisher = Springer | location = Berlin; New York | isbn = 978-3-642-12141-8 | oclc = 639461749| url = http://www.chrisknight.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/The-Origins-of-Symbolic-Culture.pdf |pages = 193–211 }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Komarova | first1 = Natalia L. | author1-link = Natalia Komarova | title = Language and Mathematics: An evolutionary model of grammatical communication | editor = Leonid Grinin | editor2 = Victor C. de Munck | editor3 = Andrey Korotayev | work = History & mathematics : Analyzing and modeling global development | date = 2006 | publisher = URSS | location = [Moskva] | isbn = 978-5-484-01001-1 | oclc = 182730511 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9785484010011/page/164 164–179] | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9785484010011/page/164 }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = McWhorter | first1 = John | title = ''[[The Power of Babel|The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language]]'' | date = 2002 | publisher = Henry Holt | location = New York | isbn = 006052085X | oclc = 1036787453 | author-link1 = John McWhorter }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Mithen | first1 = Steven J. | title = The singing Neanderthals : the origins of music, language, mind and body | date = 2005 | publisher = Weidenfeld Nicolson | location = London | isbn = 978-0-297-64317-3 | oclc = 58052344 }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Niyogi, Partha | title = The computational nature of language learning and evolution | date = 2006 | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | isbn = 978-0-262-14094-2 | oclc = 704652476 | author-link1 = Partha Niyogi }}
*{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01683-1 | last1 = Nowak | first1 = M.A. | last2 = Komarova | first2 = N.L.|author2-link= Natalia Komarova | year = 2001 | title = Towards an evolutionary theory of language | journal = Trends in Cognitive Sciences | volume = 5 | issue = 7| pages = 288–295 | pmid = 11425617 | s2cid = 1358838 }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Pinker | first1 = Steven | title = The language instinct | date = 1994 | publisher = W. Morrow and Co. | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-688-12141-9 | oclc = 28723210 | author-link1 = Steven Pinker }}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Pinker | first1 = S. | last2 = Bloom | first2 = P. | year = 1990 | title = Natural language and natural selection | url = http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/04/99/index.html | journal = Behavioral and Brain Sciences | volume = 13 | issue = 4 | pages = 707–784 | doi = 10.1017/S0140525X00081061 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.116.4044 | s2cid = 6167614 | access-date = 2005-12-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051123085422/http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/04/99/index.html | archive-date = 2005-11-23 | url-status = dead }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Sampson, Geoffrey | title = Evolutionary language understanding | date = 1996 | publisher = Cassell | location = London; New York | isbn = 978-0-304-33650-0 | oclc = 832369870 | author-link1 = Geoffrey Sampson }}
*{{Cite book  | last1 = Steels, Luc| title = Grounding symbols through evolutionary language games |editor=Angelo Cangelosi |editor2=Domenico Parisi| work = Simulating the evolution of language | date = 2002 | publisher = Springer | location = London; New York | isbn = 978-1-85233-428-4 | oclc =  47824669| author-link1 = Luc Steels }}

==External links==
*[http://www.emergent-languages.org/ Agent-Based Models of Language Evolution]
*[http://arti.vub.ac.be/ ARTI Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Vrije Universiteit Brussel]
*[http://cnl.psych.cornell.edu/evo_pub.html Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory]
*[http://www.elinguistics.net/ Computerized comparative linguistics]
*[http://www.fcg-net.org/ Fluid Construction Grammar]
*[http://groups.lis.illinois.edu/amag/langev/ Language Evolution and Computation Bibliography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421215607/http://groups.lis.illinois.edu/amag/langev/ |date=2014-04-21 }}
*[http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/lec/ Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit, University of Edinburgh]

{{Animal communication}}
{{Evolutionary psychology}}
{{Portal bar|Language|Linguistics}}

[[Category:Evolution of language]]
[[Category:Sociobiology]]