THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE AS TECHNOLOGY:

Abstract

Abstract: Must accounts of the phylogenetic emergence of language be framed exclusively in terms of biological or cultural evolution? Assuming that languages are communication technologies whose emergence and manipulations presuppose a brain especially rewired, at some stage of the hominine evolution, to be capable of particular mental activities that set humans apart from non-human primates and other animals, the role of biological evolution can hardly be disputed. The late emergence of the modern brain enabled the emergence of modern language. On the other hand, variation in the ways different populations have structured their respective languages, just like variation in the ways they prepare their foods, produce their musics, and articulate their religions (among other things), underscores the cultural dimension of the emergence of language. Linguistic systems and practices too are ways of doing things and behaving that are specific to particular populations. Human cultures too presuppose a particular brain unique to humans. Thus, biology and culture are not mutually exclusive in the evolution of human languages and other aspects of human cultures. I argue that human cultural phenomena (which include languages) are consequences of a particular biological evolutionary trajectory that is specifically human and produced a uniquely human brain. Cultures do not produce languages; rather, the emergence of the latter contributes to shaping cultures in particular ways that vary from one population to another.