The representation of animal communication and language evolution in introductory linguistics textbooks

Abstract

The last three decades have brought a wealth of new empirical data and methods that have transformed investigations of language evolution into a fast-growing field of scientific research. In this paper, we investigate how the results of this research are represented in the content of the most popular introductory linguistic textbooks. We carried out a comprehensive computer-assisted qualitative study, in which we inspected eighteen English-language textbooks for all content related to the evolutionary emergence of language and its uniqueness in nature, in order to evaluate its thematic scope, selection of topics, theories covered, researchers cited, structural soundness, currency, and factual accuracy. Overall, we found that the content of interest lacks a defined canonical representation across the textbooks. The coverage of animal communication was relatively broad, with some recurring classic examples, such as vervet monkeys or honeybees; this content was mostly structured around the ‘design features’ approach. In contrast, the coverage of topics related to language origins and evolution was much less extensive and systematic, and tended to include a relatively large the proportion of content of historical value (i.e. creation myths, ‘bow-wow’ theories). We conclude by making recommendations for future editions of textbooks, in particular, a better representation of important frameworks such as signalling theory, and of current research results in this fast-paced field.