Abstract
What could an evolutionary explanation for language look like? Here I review relevant evidence from linguistics, comparative biology, evolutionary theory and the fossil record, which suggest vocal imitation and hierarchical compositionality as the essential and uniquely human biological foundations of language. I also outline a plausible scenario for how human language evolved, and propose that language preceded, and facilitated the development of, other cognitive domains such as reasoning, the ability to plan, and consciousness.
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Zuidema, W. (2013). Language in Nature: On the Evolutionary Roots of a Cultural Phenomenon. In: Binder, PM., Smith, K. (eds) The Language Phenomenon. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36086-2_8
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