The origins of language in teaching

Laland, Kevin N.

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Date

02/2017

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Abstract

I introduce seven criteria for determining the validity of competing theories for the original function of language. I go on to present a novel explanation that meets all the criteria: language originally evolved to teach kin. I suggest that the use of symbols subsequently generated evolutionary feedback at two levels, in the form of self-modified selection pressures that favored structures in the mind that functioned to manipulate and use symbols with efficiency, and cultural selection on languages for learnability.

Citation

Laland , K N 2017 , ' The origins of language in teaching ' , Psychonomic Bulletin & Review , vol. 24 , no. 1 , pp. 225-231 . https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1077-7

Publication

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Status

Peer reviewed

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1077-7

ISSN

1069-9384

Type

Journal article

Rights

© The Author(s) 2016. This is an Open Access article which is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Description

Research supported in part by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Collections

University of St Andrews Research

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9148