Ecology and Exaptation All the WayEcology and Exaptation All the Way in Language Evolu in Language Evolutiontion

Salikoko S. MufweneUniversity of Chicago

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What’s the ecology of language?What’s the ecology of language?

It’s the speaker through his mental and anatomical predisposi-

tion for language through his adaptive responses to his socio-

economic environment It’s the socioeconomic environment that

determines the particular language varieties that shape his idiolect

An interesting cascade of indirect ecological determinisms apply in colonial settings: geographical ecology economic system population structure language variety

There’s also an internal ecologyThere’s also an internal ecology It lies in the language itself It’s more obvious at the communal than at

the idiolectal level It lies in the variants that compete for the

same communicative or structural function It lies in the interdependencies that obtain

between particular structural features It lies in the particular composition of the

feature pool in which the variants compete

Language evolution is largely determined by how Language evolution is largely determined by how the feature pool is affected by the external ecol-the feature pool is affected by the external ecol-ogy, especially the relevant population structureogy, especially the relevant population structure

A communal language is a collective pro-A communal language is a collective pro-ductionduction It is an emergent phenomenon It is the outcome of the cooperative commu-

nicative activities of speakers/signersNo particular speaker/signer has the monop-

oly of determining how a language variety shapes up, though some are more produc-tive than othersDifferent speakers innovate different forms and

structuresCompetition arises at the level of copying

Various factors bear on the copying/spread-Various factors bear on the copying/spread-ing processesing processesChiefly, intelligibilityEase of production and ease of perceptionNeed for precision, clarity, transparency,

regularity, etc. scale of markedness Identification with a particular group

loyalty, prestige, singularityThese and other ecological factors

determine how competition is resolved (or how variation is reduced, if not eliminated)

Innovation vs copying/spreadingInnovation vs copying/spreadingWhile language is social, the engine of its

evolution lies in the activities of individual speakers in individual communicative acts

It also lies typically in the dyadic or triadic interactions of individual speakers and how they accommodate each other

Communal patterns emerge from repetitions of some accommodations, which produce convergent forms, structures, and meanings

This is where the “invisible hand” operates, in the selections that favor some variants over others

If uniformitarianism is a valid assumption…If uniformitarianism is a valid assumption…

… the same ecological factors that affect the diachrony of individual languages in human history (language evolution) must also have influenced the phylogeny of language in mankind (the evolution of language)

Ecology as scaffoldingEcology as scaffoldingUse of speech and gestures in ways that

distinguish human from other animals was facilitated by bipedalism

Exaptation of bucco-pharyngeal structure and hands to produce language was facilitated by particular mental infrastructure, one that found an advantage in explicit/elaborate communication with members of one’s group and an advantage in collaboration to solve problems

Language was not invented wholesale by one hominin; it’s the outcome of collaborative productions by various speakers

Ecology as habitat and how it can help Ecology as habitat and how it can help explain linguistic diversityexplain linguistic diversity

Homo sapiens did not disperse from the Homo sapiens did not disperse from the same village nor at the same timesame village nor at the same timeHomo sapiens probably did not speak the

same languageThe languages of Homo sapiens may/must

have also varied in complexityWe have no clue about the extent of

normalization in the language varieties spoken by Homo sapiens

There must have been quite a few contacts of populations and of languages since the exodus of Homo sapiens out of East Africa; they must have contributed to further specia-tion of languages

Language contact as an ecological factorLanguage contact as an ecological factorThen and now, contact must have generat-

ed new feature pools, produced new patterns of competition and selection

It cannot be ignored in research on the origins of typological variation

In research on Phylogenetic evolution of language, ecology contributes complexity in causation

Thank you!Thank you!

http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene/