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Abstract

Language is typically argued (or assumed) to be an adaptive trait in the Homo lineage, and various specific selection pressures are offered to explain why language would have increased fitness in a population. However, it is incoherent to discuss â˜languageâ™ as a monolithic entity: the set of properties that comprise the full, complex language faculty almost certainly evolved independently, and any pressure that â˜buysâ™ one of these properties does not necessarily entail the others. Some recent work on kin selection starts by discussing the evolution of speech, but then moves on to the selective value of the exchange of information without indicating how our ancestors got from vocalization to propositions. This is too large a leap, and more specific mechanisms must be proposed if the hypotheses are to be seriously considered.

@incollection{tallerman08evolang7th,
  author={Maggie Tallerman},
  title={Kin Selection and Linguistic Complexity},
  year={2008},
  month={March},
  pages={307-314},
  editor={A. D. M. Smith and K. Smith and R. Ferrer-i-Cancho},
  publisher={World Scientific},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on the Evolution of Language},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/tallerman08evolang7th.html}
}