Evolution of Language (General)

by dhw, Tuesday, October 29, 2019, 10:49 (1642 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: Sadly we have now digressed from the evolution of language to the evolution of the brain, but I will assume that you now accept the unlikelihood of the claim that language “lay fallow” for 100,000 years, and language evolved, just as physical organs evolved, in response to new demands.

DAVID: Language appeared only in the last stage of brain evolution. Learning to use it took time and simple sounds came first without real grammatical organization which slowly developed. i agree.

Thank you. If I had to make such a general statement, I would be a little more cautious, and I would certainly not say “learning to use” language took time, as that seems to presuppose its prior existence. Human language as we know it probably appeared only in the last stage of brain evolution, accompanied by other anatomical changes. Its development took time, and it is likely that simple sounds came first without real grammatical organization. It has continued to evolve, and will no doubt do so as long as humans survive.

dhw: I have suggested that each jump was due to new demands which exceeded the capacity of the existing brains, and I have explained that complexification would have taken over completely when the brain had reached optimum size, and it proved so efficient that the brain has actually shrunk. What is it that you object to?

DAVID: The same opposite point. Bigger brain first, then use of it learned over time.

There is no “opposite” here. After each expansion (which in my hypothesis was caused by demands that exceeded the existing capacity) of course the owner of the new sized brain would use it to implement new concepts until once more its capacity was exceeded and another expansion became necessary. Eventually there came the final expansion (same cause) and from then on complexification had to take over. So we have small brain to start with, then bigger brain which is used over time until the next bigger brain. The difference between us is that you think your God preprogrammed or dabbled each expansion in anticipation of new demands, whereas I propose a natural sequence of brain responding to new demands - which I see as one logical cause of all evolutionary change, the other being exploitation of new opportunities.