LANGUAGE EVOLUTION, BY EXAPTATION, WITH THE MIND LEADING

It has usually been claimed that language is what makes humans uniquely human. However, I submit that it is the mind as a general problem- solving capacity for adaptations to current ecological pressures that makes humans uniquely humans. Non-linguistic communication may have provided part of the ecological niche for the emergence of languages, having predisposed hominines to pay attention to each other and to read each other's mind. The same mind that produced all these new developments (in particular complex social life and a richer cognitive capacity) also enabled hominines to develop languages as communication technologies.

關鍵字

Language evolution ； Exaptation ； Culture ； Ontogeny ； Phylogeny

並列摘要

一个通常的说法是语言使得人成为独特的人类。然而，我认为是作为适应当前生态压力而具有的一般问题解决能力的心智才使得人成为独特的人类。非语言的交流也许为语言的涌现提供了部分的生态挈机，预先使得类人相互注意并能了解彼此的意图。心智导致所有这些新的发展（尤其是复杂的社交生活与更丰富的认知能力），进而使得类人把语言发展成为交际技术。

並列關鍵字

语言演化；扩展适应；文化；个体发生学；群体发生学

國際替代計量

LANGUAGE EVOLUTION, BY EXAPTATION, WITH THE MIND LEADING

全文下載

主題瀏覽