Abstract
The evolution of human language, and the kind of thought the communication of which requires it, raises considerable explanatory challenges. These systems of representation constitute a radical discontinuity in the natural world. Even species closely related to our own appear incapable of either thought or talk with the recursive structure, generalized systematicity, and task-domain neutrality that characterize human talk and the thought it expresses. W. Tecumseh Fitch’s proposal (2004, in press) that human language is descended from a sexually selected, prosodic proto-language that approximated its syntactic complexity, and later acquired semantics thanks to kin selection for its use as a means of pedagogical transmission, has the promise of meeting these explanatory challenges. However, Fitch’s theory raises two problems of its own: (1) according to Boyd and Richerson (1996, Proc. Br. Acad. 88: 77–93), circumstances in which pedagogy is adaptive are inevitably rare in nature, and (2) it is unlikely that our non-discursive precursors had generally systematic, task-domain neutral thoughts to communicate to their offspring. I propose solutions to these problems. Pedagogy would be favored in a population where complex rituals dominated diverse aspects of life. Prosodic proto-language could emerge as the medium of pedagogic transmission. As this medium was used to teach a greater variety of tasks, it would become increasingly general and domain neutral. The presence and importance of such a system of communication in hominid populations could then drive, via Baldwinian mechanisms, the evolution of a kind of ‘thinking for speaking’ (Slobin 1991, Pragmatics 1: 7–25) characterized by recursive structure, generalized systematicity, and task-domain neutrality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen C., Bekoff M. (1997). Species of Mind. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
d’Aquili E. et al. (eds), 1979. The Spectrum of Ritual. Columbia University Press, New York
d’Aquili E. and Laughlin Jr. C. 1979. The Neurobiology of Myth and Ritual. In d’Aquili et al. (eds), pp. 152–182
Barkow J. et al. (eds), 1995. The Adapted Mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Bateson P. and Hinde R. (eds), 1976. Growing Points in Ethology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Bickerton D. (1990). Language and Species. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Bickerton D. 1998. Catastrophic evolution: the case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language. In Hurford et al. (eds), pp. 341–358
Bjorklund D. (1997). The Role of Immaturity in Human Development. Psychological Bulletin 122: 153–169
Boesch C., Boesch H. (1990). Tool Use and Tool Making in Wild Chimpanzees. Folia Primatologica 54:86–99
Boyd R. and Richerson P. 1996. Why culture is common, but cultural evolution is rare. Proc. Br. Acad. 88: 77–93
Burling R. (1986). The Selective Advantage of Complex Language. Ethology and Sociobiology 7:1–16
Byrne R., Whiten A. (1988). Machiavellian Intelligence. Oxford University Press, New York
Camp E. (2004). The Generality Constraint and Categorial Restrictions. Philosophical Quarterly 54(215):209–231
Carruthers P. (2002). The Cognitive Functions of Language. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25:657–726
Carruthers P. and Chamberlain A. (eds), 2000. Evolution and the Human Mind: Modularity, Language and Meta-Cognition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Cheney D., Seyfarth R. (1990). How Monkeys See the World. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Christiansen M. and Kirby S. (eds), 2003. Language Evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Clark A. (1997). Being There. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Cosmides L. and Tooby J. 1995. The psychological foundations of culture. In Barkow et al. (eds), pp. 19–136
Cronin H. (1991). The Ant and the Peacock. Cambridge University Press, New York
Darwin C. (1981). The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Princeton University Press, Princeton
de Waal F. (1982). Chimpanzee Politics. Jonathan Cape, London
Deacon T. (1997). The Symbolic Species. W. W. Norton, New York
Dennett D. (1991). Consciousness Explained. Little, Brown and Company, Boston
Donald M. (1991). Origins of the Modern Mind. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Dunbar R. (1993). Coevolution of Neocortical Size, Group Size and Language in Humans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16(4): 681–735
Dunbar R. (1996). Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Dunbar R. et al. (eds), 1999. The Evolution of Culture. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh
Evans G. (1982). The Varieties of Reference. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Fitch W.T. 2004. Kin selection and ‘mother tongues’: a neglected component in language evolution. In Oller and Griebel (eds.), pp. 275–296
Fitch W.T. The evolution of language: a comparative review. Biol. Phil. (in press)
Fitch W.T., Hauser M. (2004). Computational Constraints on Syntactic Processing in a Nonhuman Primate. Science 303(5656): 377–380
Galef B., Jr. 1988. Imitation in animals. In Zentall and Galef Jr. (eds.), pp. 3–28
Gould S. (1977). Ever Since Darwin. W. W. Norton & Company, New York
Hagen E., Bryant G. (2003). Music and Dance as a Coalition Signaling System. Human Nature 14(1):21–51
Hager L. (ed), 1997. Women in Human Evolution. Routledge, London
Hauser M. et al. (2002). The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve?. Science 298:1569–1579
Humphrey N. 1976. The social function of intellect. In Bateson and Hinde (eds), pp. 303–321
Hurford J. et al. (eds), 1998. Approaches to the Evolution of Language. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Hurley S. (2003). Animal Action in the Space of Reasons. Mind and Language 18(3):231–256
Iron W. 2001. Religion as a hard-to-fake sign of commitment. In Nesse (ed.), pp. 292–309
Knight C. 1998. Ritual/speech coevolution: a solution to the problem of deception. In Hurford et al. (eds), pp. 68–91
Knight C. 2000. Play as precursor of phonology and syntax. In Knight et al. (eds), pp. 99–118
Knight C. et al. (eds), 2000. The Evolutionary Emergence of Language: Social Function and the Origins of Linguistic Form. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Laughlin C., Jr. and d’Aquili E. 1979. Ritual and stress. In d’Aquili et al. (eds), pp. 280–317
Lex B. 1979. The neurobiology of ritual trance. In d’Aquili et al. (eds), pp. 117–151
Miller G. (2000). The Mating Mind. Doubleday, New York
Mithen S. (1996). The Prehistory of the Mind. Thames and Hudson, London
Nesse R. (ed.), 2001. Evolution and the capacity for commitment. Russell Sage, New York
Okanoya K. 2002. Sexual display as a syntactical vehicle: the evolution of syntax in birdsong and human language through sexual selection. In Wray (ed), pp. 46–63
Oller D. and Griebel U. (eds), 2004. Evolution of Communication Systems. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Origgi G. and Sperber D. 2000. Evolution, communication and the proper function of language. In Carruthers and Chamberlain (eds), pp. 140–169
Pinker S. 2003. An adaptation to the cognitive niche. In Christiansen and Kirby (eds), pp. 16–37
Pinker S., Bloom P. (1990). Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13:707–84
Power C. 1998. Old wives’ tales: the gossip hypothesis and the reliability of cheap signals. In Hurford et al. (eds), pp. 111–129
Power C. 1999. Beauty magic: the origins of art. In Dunbar et al. (eds), pp. 92–112
Power C. 2000. Secret language use at female initiation: bounding gossiping communities. In Knight et al. (eds), pp. 81–98
Power C. and Aiello L. 1997. Female proto-symbolic strategies. In Hager (ed), pp. 153–171
Rappaport R. (1979). Ecology, Meaning, and Religion. North Atlantic Books, Richmond, CA
Rappaport R. (1984). Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of a New Guinea People, 2nd edition. Yale University Press, New Haven
Schull J. (1990). Are Species Intelligent?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13:63–108
Slobin D. (1991). Learning to Think for Speaking: Native Language, Cognition, and Rhetorical Style. Pragmatics 1: 7–25
Smith W.J. 1979. Ritual and the ethology of communicating. In d’Aquili et al. (eds.), pp. 51–79
Sosis R. (2003). Why Aren’t We All Hutterites?. Human Nature 14(2): 91–127
Sosis R., Alcorta C. (2003). Signaling, Solidarity, and the Sacred: The Evolution of Religious Behavior. Evolutionary Anthropology 12:264–274
Tomasello M. et al. (1993). Cultural Learning. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16:495–552
Tomasello M., Call J. (1997). Primate Cognition. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Wray A. (ed), 2002. The Transition to Language. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Zahavi A., Zahavi A. (1997). The Handicap Principle. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Zentall T., Galef Jr B. (1988). Social Learning: Psychological and Biological Perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank two anonymous reviewers and Dan Weiskopf for helpful commentary on earlier drafts of this paper. Special thanks are due to Kim Sterelny for detailed editorial comments, encouragement, and lightning quick feedback on this project.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zawidzki, T.W. Sexual selection for syntax and kin selection for semantics: problems and prospects. Biol Philos 21, 453–470 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-005-9000-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-005-9000-z