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The study of the origin and evolution of language must necessarily be an interdisciplinary endeavor. Only by amassing evidence from many different disciplines can theorizing about the language evolution be sufficiently constrained to remove it from the realm of pure speculation and allow it to become an area of legitimate scientific inquiry. Fueled by theoretical constraints derived from recent advances in the brain and cognitive sciences, the last decade of the twentieth century saw a resurgence of scientific interest in the evolution of language.
This seminar will survey a cross-section of modern theories, methods, and research pertaining to the origin and evolution of language. We will consider evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, comparative psychology, and computational modeling of evolutionary processes. Topics for discussion may include: What does the fossil record tell us about language evolution? What can we learn from comparative perspectives on neurobiology and behavior? Can apes really learn language? Did language come about through natural selection? What were the potential preadaptations for language? What is the relationship between phylogeny and ontogeny?
Dr. Christiansen has worked extensively on the evolution of language and has edited a book (with Dr. Simon Kirby, University of Edinburgh) entitled Language Evolution, which serves as the textbook for the seminar. Dr. Christiansen is also working on a book (with Dr. Nick Chater, University College, London) on the evolution, acquisition and processing of language.
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Required Text: |
Course Outline
* indicates extra readings for presenters and graduate students (627).
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Week |
Dates |
Topics |
Readings |
|
Week 1 |
9/1 |
Organizational Meeting | |
|
Week 2 |
9/8 |
On language and evolution
Presenter: |
Christiansen & Kirby (2009) Ch. 4 (Newmeyer) Bernstein Ratner, Berko Gleason & Narasimhan (1998) |
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Week 3 |
9/15 |
Language as a biological adaptation
Presenters: |
Ch. 2 (Pinker) Ch. 5 (Bickerton) * Számadó & Szathmáry (2006) |
|
Week 4 |
9/22 |
Symbols, grammar and conceptual complexity
Presenters: |
Ch. 6 (Tomasello) Schoenemann (in press) * Ch. 7 (Deacon) |
|
Week 5 |
9/29 |
Possible stages in language evolution
Presenters: |
Ch. 3 (Hurford) Ch. 8 (Davidson) * Johansson (2006) |
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Week 6 |
10/6 |
Vocal or gestural origin of language?
Presenters: |
Ch. 11 (Corballis) Ch. 12 (Dunbar) * Ch. 14 (Lieberman) |
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10/13 |
Fall Break | ||
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Week 7 |
10/20 |
What's special about language?
Presenters: |
Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch (2002) Pinker & Jackendoff (2009) * Everett (2005) |
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Week 8 |
10/27 |
Computational models of language evolution
Presenters: |
Jäger et al. (in press) Ch. 16 (Briscoe) * Ch. 15 (Kirby & Christiansen) |
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Week 9 |
11/3 |
Language universals?
Presenters: |
Evans & Levinson (2009) Kirby, Cornish & Smith (2008) * Müller (2009) |
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Week 10 |
11/10 |
Genes, language and evolution
Presenters: 1-page synopsis due |
Fisher & Marcus (2006) Dediu & Ladd (2007) * Enard et al. (2009) * Lieberman (2009) |
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Week 11 |
11/17 |
Language as shaped by the brain I: Evolution
Presenter: |
Christiansen & Chater (2008) |
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Week 12 |
11/24 |
Language as shaped by the brain II: Acquisition
Presenter: |
Chater & Christiansen (in press) Christiansen & Dale (2004) |
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Week 13 |
12/1 |
Language as shaped by the brain III: Processing
Presenter: |
Christiansen & MacDonald (in press) Misyak, Christiansen & Tomblin (in press) |
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12/1 |
Final paper due (before noon) |
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Note: Changes may be made to the readings and
their order but this will be announced in class and on this course web
page.
Click here for a PDF version of the course syllabus. |
Readings
Bernstein Ratner, N., Berko Gleason, J. & Narasimhan, B. (1998). Introduction to psycholinguistics: What do language users know? In J. Berko Gleason & N. Bernstein Ratner (Eds.), Psycholinguistics (2nd ed., pp. 1-40). Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace.
Chater, N. & Christiansen, M.H. (in press). Language acquisition meets language evolution. Cognitive Science.
Christiansen, M.H. & Chater, N. (2008). Language as shaped by the brain. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 31, 489-558.
Christiansen, M.H. & Dale, R. (2004). The role of learning and development in the evolution of language. A connectionist perspective. In D. Kimbrough Oller & U. Griebel (Eds.), Evolution of communication systems: A comparative approach. The Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology (pp. 90-109). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Christiansen, M.H. & Kirby, S. (2009). Language evolution. In L.R. Squire (Ed.), New encyclopedia of neuroscience, Vol. 5 (pp. 321-327). Oxford, U.K.: Elsevier.
Christiansen, M.H. & MacDonald, M.C. (in press). A usage-based approach to recursion in sentence processing. Language Learning.
Dediu, D. & Ladd, D.R. (2007). Linguistic tone is related to the population frequency of the adaptive haplogroups of two brain size genes, ASPM and Microcephalin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, 10944-10949.
* Enard, W. et al. (2009). A humanized version of FOXP2 affects cortico-basal ganglia circuits in mice. Cell, 137, 961-971.
Evans, N. & Levinson, S. (2009). The myth of language universals: language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 32, 429-492.
* Everett, D.L. (2005). Cultural constraints on grammar and cognition in Pirah“. Current Anthropology, 46, 621-646.
Fisher, S.E., & Marcus, G.F. (2006). The eloquent ape: genes, brains and the evolution of language. Nature Reviews Genetics, 7, 9–20.
Hauser, M.D., Chomsky, N. and Fitch, W.T. (2002) The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298, 1569-1579.
* Johansson, S. (2006). Working backwards from modern language to proto-grammar. In A. Cangelosi, A.D.M. Smith, & K. Smith (Eds.), The Evolution of Language (pp. 160-167). Singapore: World Scientific.
Jäger, H., Baronchelli, A., Briscoe, E., Christiansen, M.H., Griffiths, T., Jäger, G., Kirby, S., Komarova, N., Richerson, P.J., Steels, L. & Triesch, J. (2009). What can mathematical, computational and robotic models tell us about the origins of syntax? In D. Bickerton & E. Szathmáry (Eds.), Biological foundations and origin of syntax. Strüngmann Forum Reports, Vol. 3 (pp. 385-410). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kirby, S., Cornish, H. & Smith, K. (2008). Cumulative cultural evolution in the laboratory: an experimental approach to the origins of structure in human language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, 10681-10686.
* Lieberman, P. (2009). FOXP2 and human cognition. Cell, 137, 800-802.
Misyak, J.B., Christiansen, M.H. & Tomblin, J.B. (in press). Sequential expectations: The role of prediction-based learning in language. Topics in Cognitive Science.
* Müller, R.-A. (2009). Language universals in the brain: How linguistic are they? In M.H. Christiansen, C. Collins & S. Edelman (Eds.), Language universals (pp. 224-252). New York: Oxford University Press.
Pinker, S. & Jackendoff, R. (2009). The components of language: What's specific to language, and what's specific to humans? In M.H. Christiansen, C. Collins & S. Edelman (Eds.), Language universals (pp. 126-151). New York: Oxford University Press.
Schoenemann, P.T. (in press). Evolution
of brain and language. Language
Learning.
* Számadó, S. & Szathmáry, E. (2006). Competing selective scenarios for the emergence of natural language. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 21, 555-561.
Department of Psychology
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Office: 228 Uris Hall
Phone: (607) 255-3570
Fax: (607) 255-8433
Email: christiansen@cornell.edu
Cornell home page
Lab web site
Last modified November 11, 2009, by mhc.