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Key research themes
1. How did modern human language emerge through evolutionary and multidisciplinary evidence?
This research theme investigates the evolutionary origins of modern human language by integrating comparative anatomy, paleoanthropology, archaeology, and cognitive science. It seeks to clarify whether modern language arose suddenly (saltation) or through gradual, cumulative evolutionary processes involving distinct social and biological adaptations unique to Homo sapiens and its ancestors.
Key finding: The authors conclude that modern language is not the result of a sudden 'human revolution' but rather a prolonged evolutionary development. Comparative analyses of fossil material, anatomy, and behavioral data from hominins... Read more
Key finding: This paper synthesizes recent findings to argue for language as a skill continuously shaped by selective environmental, socio-demographic, and technological pressures, supporting a multimodal and gradual evolutionary... Read more
Key finding: Proposes a materialist approach to language origins, viewing language evolution as inseparable from the development of cooperative social labor and community-building, rather than being genetically predetermined. The paper... Read more
Key finding: Advances the mirror neuron system hypothesis as a neurological precursor enabling the transition from manual gestures (protosign) to vocal protolanguage, culminating in modern language. It rejects innate universal grammar and... Read more
Key finding: Formulates the principle that behavior (including rudimentary carrying and tool use) drives biological evolution, outlining how bipedalism enabled new behaviors that catalyzed anatomical changes (such as larynx descent),... Read more
2. What role did social cooperation and cumulative cultural evolution play in the origins and complexities of language?
Focusing on the social and cultural foundations, this theme explores how cooperative communication needs and the capacity for transmission of cultural information shaped language evolution. It addresses the hypothesis that language emerged from gestural and mimetic systems alongside or prior to vocal communication and evolved as a cumulative cultural phenomenon optimized for social coordination within increasingly complex hominid societies.
Key finding: Proposes that language developed as a cooperative communication system replacing grooming for maintaining social bonds in larger groups. Stability of communication depends on shared interests within coalitions and reciprocal... Read more
Key finding: Defends the view that language evolution depends on cumulative cultural evolution sustained by social learning and transmission. Highlights an initial gestural/mime protolanguage stage and argues that communicative complexity... Read more
Key finding: Extends the previous cumulative cultural evolution hypothesis, emphasizing the need for an incremental, social learning-based account of language evolution. It posits that social intelligence and complex communication... Read more
Key finding: Revisits Enlightenment-era gestural-pantomimic theories proposing a multimodal trajectory from manual bodily-visual communication to speech. It underscores the polysemiotic nature of early communication systems and supports... Read more
3. How can formal linguistic theories and comparative methods unravel deep historical relationships and biological underpinnings of language?
This theme encompasses methodological innovations employing formal syntactic parametric comparison, neurobiological insights, and genetic-linguistic correlations to understand language origins and evolution. It includes attempts to establish relationships among languages beyond lexical cognates, clarifies the role of intrinsic brain structures, and integrates genetic data with linguistic phylogenies to trace cultural and biological coevolution.
Key finding: Develops a formal syntactic method, Parametric Comparison Method (PCM), employing binary syntactic features as universal taxonomic characters. It statistically tests deep historical language relatedness beyond lexical... Read more
Key finding: Examines the congruence between human genetic diversity and linguistic histories, critically evaluating correlation claims between population genetics and language families. It highlights limitations of migration-based... Read more
Key finding: Proposes a complementary integration of Jackendoff’s Parallel Architecture (PA) linguistic framework and memetic theory to account for language evolution. The PA’s detailed lexicon and syntax representations broaden the... Read more
Key finding: This paper aligns memetics with the linguistic Parallel Architecture, emphasizing that language evolution is best understood as a process of cultural transmission of memes spanning phonology, syntax, and semantics. It refines... Read more
Key finding: Clarifies that theories of language evolution critically depend on the underlying conceptualization of language, particularly distinctions between language competence, capacity, and performance. Introduces a four-department... Read more