Do languages evolve like living species, through mutation and selection?
In short: Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and linguist John McWhorter explore the striking parallels between biological evolution and linguistic change. This conversation reveals how words and genes alike drift, adapt, and survive, offering a fresh perspective on the deep patterns that connect our biology to our speech.
Language evolution remains a complex puzzle because, unlike biological traits, language does not leave a fossil record. Researchers must instead rely on psycholinguistics, computational modeling, and comparative psychology to understand how human language—defined by unique traits like productivity and displacement—emerged. While early scholars once speculated wildly about the origins of language, the field has matured significantly since the 1960s.
Modern debates center on whether language is the product of specific biological adaptations or a result of cultural evolution piggybacking on general cognitive abilities. While some argue for a genetically determined language faculty, others view language as an evolutionary system that changes through cultural transmission across generations. Both perspectives agree that our current linguistic capacity is fundamentally constrained by our biology.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Richard Dawkins: The link between evolution and language
- Also: Language Evolution — OECS
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