Evolution of Language. Continuity and Discontinuity through Models and Empirical Data

Abstract

Over the last years, the debate about language evolution has been dominated by functionalist models looking for continuity among various animal species to understand language evolution and its nature. In this work, I analyze the theoretical mistakes of such approach, that ignoring structural body transformation does not allow the application of evolutionary methods to the study of functions. Here I propose a naturalistic approach, based on Evo-Devo perspective, which considers biological constraints as the necessary "mechanical trigger" upon which language function could have evolved. This framework, through the examination of the comparative study of the peripheral and central structures of vocal articulation, allows us to both avoid functional leap in language evolution and at the same time, guarantee species-specificity of language.

Prolegomena to a cognitive science of language diversity

“…Also, it is closer as well to have humans evolved (for the most time, we have formed small groups of related people with reduced contacts with strangers). Another important reason is that, as pointed out in the previous section, this approach is expected to enable more motivated and fruitful comparisons with other species, and ultimately, to find more evolutionary continuity for human cognition and behavior, which has been a problem for past approaches to the evolution of language (Hackett, 2017;Parravicini & Pievani, 2018;Falzone, 2019).…”